Date: Thu, 28 Sep 2006 10:01:26 +1000 From: "Murray Taylor" <MTaylor@bytecraft.com.au> To: "Damian Wiest" <dwiest@vailsys.com>, "Anton Shterenlikht" <mexas@bristol.ac.uk> Cc: George Allan <d1945@sbcglobal.net>, freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: RE: pdf editor Message-ID: <04E232FDCD9FBE43857F7066CAD3C0F11EF6E9@svmailmel.bytecraft.internal>
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=20 > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org=20 > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Damian Wiest > Sent: Thursday, 28 September 2006 3:33 AM > To: Anton Shterenlikht > Cc: George Allan; freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > Subject: Re: pdf editor >=20 > On Wed, Sep 27, 2006 at 02:14:03PM +0100, Anton Shterenlikht wrote: > > > Maybe it's time to reconsider the nature of that itch? PDF was=20 > > > never meant to be edited (except peripherally), and most=20 > definitely=20 > > > not in the sense that you're thinking. Consider it a=20 > FINAL "print"=20 > > > format, like an image that's long since left the=20 > photographer, his=20 > > > studio and his camera and now exists only as a JPG on a=20 > hard drive. > > > =20 > >=20 > > Agreed. But what if I'm writing a paper for a scientific journal in=20 > > latex on my freebsd and my coauthors just can't be persuaded to use=20 > > anything that's not already exist on their windows PCs? I find the=20 > > results of latex2html or latex2rtf of poor quality (even=20 > for editing=20 > > purposes), i.e. lots of errors, problems with references,=20 > etc. Maybe I=20 > > need to learn how to use these tools better. > >=20 > > Lately I was sending them pdfs and got in reply some pdfs that can=20 > > only be viewed properly with the latest acrobat, and their comments=20 > > are only visible on the screen anyway and cannot at all be printed. > >=20 > > So what do I do? More broadly, what is the solution for cross-=20 > > platform (*nix - windows - vms) editing of a complex document, with=20 > > lots of maths, line plots and raster images? > >=20 > > anton >=20 > Agree on a document format? >=20 > -Damian Use the minimalist elements of latex as a 'document markup',=20 and write in wordpad on the windows box as that seems to understand newlines, explain to them the concept of 'getting the content right first' _and then_=20 doing the fussy layout. And put all the images, and plots into jpegs=20 'for discussion' during the writing process, with appropriate document markers. Just gotta come up with a way to do the maths in a common format (again teach 'em latex, by showing them the difference if the finished product a few times for some complex equation/theorem/lemma etc) lotsa luck! BTW I have had these 'discussion' before and another argument is disk space I had a writer generate over 15Gb of documents in all the initial.=20 'required to be held' intermediate formats and finals forms.=20 along with the humungous hi res screen grabs....=20 My versions fitted on a DVD. A Makefile, the latex source, and realistic jpegs. =20 cheers mjt --------------------------------------------------------------- The information transmitted in this e-mail is for the exclusive use of the intended addressee and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, dissemination or other use of it, or the taking of any action in reliance upon this information by persons and/or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited. If you received this in error, please inform the sender and/or addressee immediately and delete the material.=20 E-mails may not be secure, may contain computer viruses and may be corrupted in transmission. Please carefully check this e-mail (and any attachment) accordingly. No warranties are given and no liability is accepted for any loss or damage caused by such matters. --------------------------------------------------------------- ### This e-mail message has been scanned for Viruses by Bytecraft ###
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