[pdftex] Harlequin RIP 5.3 and PDFTeX

[Thierry Bouche]

Concernant « Re: [pdftex] Harlequin RIP 5.3 and PDFTeX  », Robin Fairbairns écrit : «
» it's plain that, in jeffrey's case, pdftex is useless, and will remain
» so.

I don't agree at all. Pdftex is usefull because it allows to produce a 
PDF file that will be easily ripped after being distilled!

I know of a publisher where two versions of the PDF files are
routinely produced from a single pdftex `master'. One goes through
ps/distiller (in fact, the PS is done in acrobat 4, and distilled with
v. 5) for preflight validation, normalisation and simplification
before being flashed. Displaying a PDF in acrobat really is not a
validation (as much as validating an HTML file with a given browser),
so distilling files that will actually be ripped has some interesting
features... The other one is only optimized for web publishing.

If you need some of pdftex's exclusive features (most of them being
aimed at the electronic version, but you may also want to exploit the
H&J enhancements), the route pdftex -> PS -> PDF or RIP makes
sense. If you only have paper in sight, and don't play with pdftex's
idiosyncacies, I don't see why you would prefer pdftex over dvitex.

Now, if there were a way to apply to a PDF the kind of things possible 
in distiller without loosing the hypertext (for instance, exporting to 
PS with pdfmarks), that would be great!

-- 
Thierry Bouche