Printoxx User Guide  v.2.8
Printoxx is a free open source Linux program for making a photo montage (arrangement of images and text), which may be printed or saved as an image.

License and Warranty
Printoxx is licensed under the GNU General Public License V3 (Free Software Foundation). Printoxx is not warranted for any purpose, but if you find a bug, I will try to fix it.

Origin and Contact
Printoxx originates from the author's web site at  http://kornelix.squarespace.com/printoxx
Other web sites may offer it for download. Modifications may have been made.
If you have questions, suggestions, or a bug to report, contact  kornelix@yahoo.de

Using printoxx
Start printoxx from the menu or with the command: printoxx. The window will show a blank layout. Use the [print] button to select the dimensions for the printed output. These can be a standard paper format (letter, A4, etc.) or a custom format where you supply the print width and height in centimeters. Select the orientation, portrait or landscape. Press the [OK] button when done, and the window layout will resize to match the chosen format width/height ratio. Use the button [+image] to choose images files to place on the layout. In the file selection dialog, click an image file, then click somewhere on the layout. The image is depositied on the layout. You can also drag and drop an image from the file selection dialog or from an open Nautilus browser. Drag the image to the desired position in the layout. Drag any corner of the image to make it bigger or smaller. To rotate the image, use the [rotate] button. To add a simple frame around the image, use the [frame] button.

Use the button [+text] to add blocks of text to the layout. Enter text, then click on an empty spot on the layout. The text is deposited on the layout. Drag the text into final position. Drag from either end of the text to change its size. Move the text and images around and change their sizes as desired. If "transparent" is selected when the text is deposited, the text background will be transparent (for writing on top of an image). Blocks of text may also be dragged into the layout from applications that support this functionality (gedit, evince). Text may also be rotated the same way as an image.

Use the toolbar [pack] button to pack and align the images. Images that are nearly packed together (with only small gaps or overlaps) are shifted to eliminate the gaps and overlaps. Where image corners almost come together, the images are shifted or resized into alignment. This cannot be generally perfect unless the images have the same dimensions in the layout, but straight lines of images can be achieved in most cases, without the need for fine mouse tweaking. [pack] can be used repeatedly if the initial adjustments cause additional adjustments to be needed.

Use the toolbar [print] button to re-enter the print dialog, and choose [print] to print the completed layout. The printed image will be scaled to fit within the chosen format, and the image width/height ratio will be preserved. If a custom format is used, the width and height should be within the physical paper width and height. Margins are variable and depend on the printer. You may be able to reduce the margins by using a custom format with dimensions greater than the paper size.

Use the [save] button to save the layout as an image file (jpeg). Use the [trim] button to reduce the layout to fit the images.

The button [index] shows a thumbnail index window with images in the current directory. You can click on a thumbnail image and then click on the layout window to add the image to the layout. The navigation buttons in the thumbnail window can be used to move around in your image library.

Further Tips
1. Later images can overlap those added earlier. Click on an image to bring it to the top.
2. Text strings are actually images of text, and are handled the same as images.
3. An image or text can be deleted by right-clicking on it.
4. The [rotate] button applies to the last image or text inserted, clicked, or moved.
5. The dialogs for adding images and text may be used in parallel.

Translations
See the text file TRANSLATIONS ( /usr/local/share/doc/printoxx/ ) for guidance on how to create or modify a translation.