How do I change a shape's color in Scribus?

Question

I'm a long-time Adobe Creative Suite user who's exploring Scribus as an alternative to InDesign for creating a document. As is often the case when getting outside of the Adobe workflow, accomplishing simple tasks can seem really difficult.

For example, here's what a shape looks like when I create it:

I created a basic square that renders with a black stroke and white (or no) fill. In Adobe, I'd now go to the color palette and select the color I'd like to apply, but I can't seem to find such a feature in Scribus.

How do I change the color of this polygon?

Answer 1

As far as I can tell, Scribus doesn't allow the kind of free-wheeling color selection that Adobe does. Colors must be defined explicitly, and then assigned to a polygon through a "Properties" palette.

To view a shape's properties, right-click it and click Properties or hit F2 to trigger the Properties palette. From there, there is a Color section where you can select the shape's fill and stroke colors:

To create new colors, Go to Edit > Colors... in the menu bar up top. You can then manage colors in the ensuing dialog.