Typesetting Tools

Tools

Below is a listing of free software and scene based layout tools.

Canvas based (GUI)

• Scribus https://www.scribus.net/
• Inkscape http://inkscape.org/
• Laidout https://laidout.org/
• Electric Zine Maker https://alienmelon.itch.io/electric-zine-maker

CSS Print based (CSS Print)

• your browser (based on CSS Paged Media): use CTRL+P/CMD+P
• Weasyprint https://weasyprint.readthedocs.io/
• Paged.js https://www.pagedjs.org/
• wkhtmltopdf https://wkhtmltopdf.org/
• Vivliostyle https://vivliostyle.org/
• OSPKit (CSS Regions legacy support!) http://osp.kitchen/tools/ospkit/

P5.js based

• genzine https://github.com/munusshih/p5.genzine by Munus Shih and Iley Cao

Python based

• rinohtype http://www.mos6581.org/rinohtype/master/
• ReportLab https://www.reportlab.com/
• Flat http://xxyxyz.org/flat/
• PyX https://pyx-project.org/ (outputs to PostScript, PDF and SVG)

TeX based

• TeX https://tug.org/ + https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeX
• LaTeX https://www.latex-project.org/
• ConTeXt https://wiki.contextgarden.net/
• texinfo https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/manual/texinfo/html_node/Short-Sample-Texinfo-File.html
• tectonic https://tectonic-typesetting.github.io/
• lyx https://www.lyx.org/

XML based

• speedata https://showcase.speedata.de/en/

Misc

• groff https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/
• SILE https://sile-typesetter.org/ (LaTeX-like)
• typst https://typst.app/ (custom markdown syntax)
• SATySFi https://github.com/gfngfn/SATySFi (LaTeX-like + OCaml-like)
• Patoline https://patoline.github.io/ (wiki/LaTeX/Ocaml-like)

Other listings of typesetting/layout/publishing tools (and projects/practices)

• Artist Publishing page on Monoskop ✨
• Post-digital Publishing Archive, Silvio Lorusso's phd work, since 2013
• From Print to Ebooks – a Hybrid Publishing Toolkit for the Arts, INC Amsterdam, 2014/2015
• Relevant Tools & Practices in Hybrid Publishing, INC Amsterdam/Sepp Eckenhaussen, 2022
• Electronic Literature Directory, since 2017
• Mind the Gap, A Landscape Analysis of Open Source Publishing Tools and Platforms, 2019
• Finding the Right Platform: A Crosswalk of Academy-Owned and Open-Source Digital Publishing Platforms, 2023

Readings

• Awkward Gestures, Femke Snelting, 2008
• CREATION, TOOLS, RESEARCH GRAPHISME EN FRANCE, 2022 + French version
• Composer avec les technologies du web (PhD thesis), Julie Blanc, 2023
• Designing Design Tools (PhD thesis), Nolwenn Maudet, 2017
• BLIND MAPS AND BLUE DOTS (PhD thesis), Joost Grootens, 2020

Publications made with FLOSS typesetting Tools

• there are a bunch of publication in the FLOSS publications crate in the XPUB library!
• web2print library, ran by Lucile Haute and Quentin Juhel since 2021

See also

• PDF
• Category:PagedMedia
• Category:FLOSS design
• CSS Print
• https://polytype.dev/ (a rosetta's stone for typesetting tools, quick demo's of many different typesetting tools)
• User:Kiara/Type for an amazing list of online type foundries
• Using Pandoc and Typst to Produce PDFs