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[Reinhard Kotucha]

On 2013-12-09 at 09:28:51 +0000, Robin Fairbairns wrote:

 > Patrick Gundlach <patrick at gundla.ch> wrote:
 > 
 > > > Well, I recently had to repair broken PDF files created by
 > > > InDesign.  LuaTeX doesn't create invalid PDF.
 > > 
 > > and your point is...?
 > 
 > to respond to the earlier post that claimed commercial products
 > dont do things like that, perhaps.

To be more precise, I tried to make clear that pdfTeX is the first
program that implemented the HZ algorithm *and* produced valid PDF.
One has to take this into account when comparing these programs.

The HZ algorithm is not more valuable than Microsoft Word's colorful
user interface if the output isn't appropriate.

BTW, I've seen extremely ugly files created with InDesign.  Sure, in
most cases the authors are responsible.  Since everybody who owns an
Apple claims to be a designer, no wonder.

But I encountered many PDF files produced by InDesign which couldn't
be processed properly.  Sometimes AR complains, sometimes the PS
interpreter of the printer crashes, sometimes not everything I see in
AR appears in the printed output...  I never had the time nor the will
to investigate further.  However, a few weeks ago my boss asked me to
repair a broken PDF file produced by InDesign.  With PDFtk,
Ghostscript, and Emacs I could fix it in areasonable amount of time.
But I'm still amazed that they introduced such a *stupid* bug.

If we compare programs we have to compare their output in the first
place.

I said this because Jan said:

 > InDesign is currently de facto standard in professional typesetting
 > - it offers excellent typography, support for Unicode, Open Type
 > features, color management, produces PDFs compatible with various
 > standards - all this in a handy GUI.

It's nice that InDesign produces PDFs compatible with various
standards.  But it should comply with ISO-32000 at least.  It seems
that Adobe isn't aware of it.

Jan, I'm living in the TeX world for more than two decades and I
believe that I know a little bit about typesetting.  If you want to
know what "professional typesetting" stands for then buy a book which
is *not* typeset with TeX.

There is no "professional typesetting" anymore.  In the past
publishers took care of proof-reading and gave the manuscript to a
professional typesetter.

Nowadays publishers don't care about these things anymore and ask
authors to provide a "camera ready copy".  What is "professional
typesetting" then?  Sure, if you have an Apple you are a professional
typesetter per se.  Same if you're using InDesign.  Even if you don't
have the slightest clue about typesetting.

After all, I have the impression that the **de facto** standard in
"professional" typesetting is not InDesign but Microsoft Word.

Now go to a do-it-yourself store and buy a screwdriver.  If it's
labelled "professional" I can guarantee you that it's broken within a
few weeks.  *This* is what "professional" means.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha                                      Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
D-30167 Hannover                              mailto:reinhard.kotucha at web.de
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Microsoft isn't the answer. Microsoft is the question, and the answer is NO.
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