DesignCraft
storytold · Design
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What is DesignCraft?
A designer can set up facing pages, place frames, flow a story across columns, and reuse paragraph or character styles throughout a document. Parent pages and color swatches help keep repeated elements consistent. DesignCraft also exposes a command interface for scripted layout work, while its roadmap still records unfinished professional-publishing details.
DesignCraft is an in-development, open-source page-layout app for multi-page documents. It includes spreads, parent pages, threaded text stories, styles, swatches, and text wrap in desktop and WebAssembly builds. Export and interchange details are still evolving, so print-critical work should be tested with representative files.
Core capabilities
- Arrange facing-page spreads, parent pages, layers, and graphic or text frames.
- Thread stories across frames and use paragraph styles, swatches, and text wrap.
- Edit through a native desktop interface or inspect and automate commands by CLI.
Structure a document with pages and stories
DesignCraft has a document model for facing or single pages, spreads, parent pages, layers, and text or graphic frames. Threaded stories let copy continue across frames and columns; text wrap lets placed graphics affect that flow. These building blocks support editorial layouts rather than isolated single-page drawings.
- Page layout
- Spreads
- Text flow
Reuse typography and design choices
Paragraph and character styles, swatches, measurement controls, and a paragraph composer help keep typography and color consistent through a document. A command registry and control channel expose editing actions to scripts and agents, while the native interface remains the place to review each page visually.
- Typography
- Styles
- Automation
Validate exports before production publishing
DesignCraft is in development. Its app page describes print-oriented PDF features, but the repository README and evolving roadmap do not give a consistent readiness statement for PDF export; the roadmap still lists validation and interchange work. Treat print delivery and movement to other layout tools as workflows to test carefully, not established compatibility guarantees.
- In development
- Export
- Limitations
Where it fits
Use cases
- 01
Prototype a short magazine spread
Set facing pages, add image and text frames, thread a story across columns, apply styles, and inspect the resulting page flow before choosing an export path.
- 02
Keep repeated pages consistent
Use parent pages for recurring elements such as folios, then share paragraph styles and named swatches across a multi-page layout.
- 03
Explore scripted layout production
Use the documented command-line and JSON control interfaces to create or inspect a document and render sample pages. Review the visual result and file interchange before adopting the workflow.