> > For pre-press quality printing. The best known tool is TEX almost all the > > Mathematics books actually use TEX/Latex a [snip] > > this is a stereotypical confusion about PDF. PDF is just a file format. > a container. acrobat is the technology. you can 'generate' or 'create' your > document anywhere, from autocad, excel, accounting packages, sophisticated > page layout software, Granted. As easily as you can print things in the PostScript Format which any PS compatible printer can understand. And the PS is easily converted to PDF. > web server utilities, to whatever else you like. Cite web server utilities :-).
> acrobat and its competitors, merely create a PDF file outta your document. Heh! thats what you said above. "You can generate or create your document anywhere" > acrobat does not attempt to be an autocad or a TeX engine or even KiLE. > hence, you can give your document as much sophistication or aesthetic beauty > or both, as the original software. You can use any of the Original Software's to print to PS format and convert using one of the PS2PDF utilities to generate the PDF's. > the real world of publishing can only survive with concurrent publishing > formats. XML, XHTML, PDF, TeX, all *together* are required. incidentally, > even acrobat 5 and above support outputting a PDF file to XML, RTF, Text > only, JPEG, and several other formats. Same and much more can be done on a linux box. The real world of publishing will benefit more by adhering to standards. As far as I can see XML XHTML,TEX, PS shall remain.PDF was touted as a unifying format for both printshop and publishing online, which it has failed. PDF however remains an open format(with a dream of display the same anywhere with a single free Adobe Reader/Adobe Reader Browser plugins/ActiveX which failed owing to XPDF and other Renderer's differing in rendition of PDF's)which was backed by proprietary technology.Something like MS publishes its .doc format but still you get the best .doc's from MS-Office ( which will not be true once it becomes open ).Heck! Adobe Acrobat produces the best quality PDF's with a variety of proprietary formats because of probably its knowing the format from which it is converting to PDF "protected" by NDA's between "Original Software's Manufacturer".I am sure in future better print quality PDF generation should be possible from open document formats by open source PDF generators created as plugins (using as back-end publishing systems already available on Linux) for "Original Open Softwares" the same as Adobe creates plugin's for the "Original -Proprietory- Softwares". To create a really seamless Online+Offline(printshop publishing) you need real reproducible inter-convertibility without loss of print quality(rendition). -- http://www.tarundua.net Nothing you ever wanted to find about Tarun Dua ================================================ To unsubscribe, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with unsubscribe in subject header. Check archives at http://www.mail-archive.com/ilugd%40wpaa.org
