The Properties Palette
From Scribus Documentation Project
Another utility for measuring sizes and for precise placment in Scribus is the Properties Palette. In the tab X, Y, Z it shows the geometry of the selected object. The display of the X and Y position depends on the chosen Basepoint. The default Basepoint is the upper left corner of a Frame:
By using the X and Y Position spinboxes, you can place an item with extreme accuracy: Even if your default unit is pt, Scribus allows you to place objects with a precision of three digits after the decimal point. But what if you want to add a value in a different unit than your default one? No problem at all. Just select the number in the spin box and overwrite it with value you need. Let's assume your default unit is pt, but from calculations you know that an item hast to placed somewhere by using centimetres. Enter the value in centimetres and the item will be moved exactly like you wanted, even though the value in the spinbox is converted to pt.
If you are using a wheel mouse, you can carefully move around or resize items. You can use the mouse wheel with the spin boxes instead of clicking the arrows. For small steps, put the cursor to the far right.Then spin the mouse wheel up and down to adjust the measurement or setting. This adjusts 10ths of a unit. For larger adjustments, put the cursor to the left side. For extra slow and precise adjustments 100th of a unit, Hold Crtl + Shift keys while moving the wheel mouse up and down.
But there's even more to it: Almost every spinbox where you enter values with measurements can do calculations for you. You can mix and match units as well. Special units are: pageheight, pagewidth, height, width.
Some Example Calculations 8.5in/3 divide 8.5 inches by 3
pagewidth/4 divide the page width by 4 (This only works with points).
width*2 double the width of the selected object
5in+2p add 2 picas to 5 inches

