[pdftex] Editing PDF LaTeX -> Acrobat

[pdf at futuristick.org]

Hello,

I appreciate the feedback, but invariably authors do not send in 'perfect'
manuscripts, if such things really exist! I am speaking from an editorial
perspective, mind you, where correcting errors is de rigeur, e.g., moving
text to fit margins, or changing the font of a character, all of which can
be done if, unfortunately or not, the file was orginally created with a
postscript driver 'native' to Win32 environments. (I would certainly not
claim any superiority for Windows, by any means, but alas this is what I
must work with).

I agree that authors should be typesetting to a T, pun not intended, but
many of them are rather helpless and/or clueless, depending on one's take.
The ultimate point to be recognized, nonetheless, is that the need exists
and a solution is necessary to accomodate efficiency, compromised by
having authors resubmitting again and again when the work could be done
here. And I certainly don't want to demand that authors stop using LaTeX
and switch!

Best regards,
D. Milam

> On Thu, 13 Jan 2005 pdf at futuristick.org wrote:
>> Why aren't PDF files generated in LaTeX editable in Acrobat? In my
case,
>> I
>> am using Acrobat 5.0, and yes, unfortunately, must work with a Windows
system. There are various clients who submit LaTeX-generated PDFs,
which
>> are fine to use if they are 'perfect', but it is frustrating not being
able to make changes to them in a Win32 environment.
>
> Hello,
>
> And what exactly do you mean by "editing PDF files". PDF files are
_supposed_ to be perfect and final, i.e. you should not be able to edit
anything in them, except meta-things, like annotations/comments,
attachments, various interactive objects etc etc. But the actual text
layout cannot be reflowed (except for this modern thing called "tagged
PDF" but as far as I know this is not yet supported by pdfTeX).
>
> Imagine what a total disorder would there be if publishing houses
started
> editing author's submitted PDF files :) Instead, the original authors of
the PDF files should have the required typographical/typesetting skills
if
> they take upon themselves such a serious task as producing PDF documents :)
>
> (smiles added to avoid flames --- I know my opinions are controversial
and
> should be taken with a "pinch of salt", as I normally take them myself
:)
>
> Kind regards
> Tigran
>
> =========
> http://www.bibles.org.uk --- Bibles in PDF format (not editable :)
>