There’s so-called desktop publishing software.
In the open-source world, I typically see Scribus recommended.
I’m probably dead wrong somehow, but I don’t see why these aren’t the standard text document software. Is there some part of just a solid wall of text that can’t be done with DPS? Is the limitations of word processors somehow good for office use to the exclusion of slightly interesting formatting?
Yeah, I find the similarity most striking with LibreOffice Draw vs. LibreOffice Writer. It very much feels like Draw is just a superset of the features of Writer.
There is certainly some differences, though, e.g. text doesn’t automatically overflow onto new pages, text boxes don’t automatically increase in size, things like that.
Everything is a lot more static, which is great for layout, and less great, if you just need to type out some text.
Automatic formatting. Try to have an automatic table of content with and automatic index of tables in draw, it’s not available. When I write a lab report, I don’t want to check every page to make sure the title 3 is still on page 4.
Formatting software are good at manual formatting. Word processors are good at convenience. Once you know your way around, you can be fairly good at formatting with them, and you get the advantages of having some automatic features.
