[pdftex] TeX as a composition server?

[George N. White III]

On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 6:37 PM, ivo welch <ivowel at gmail.com> wrote:

> I would suggest that you try out how fast tex can produce your sample
> documents.  it is not hard, and more informative than guessing.
>
> from what I can see, as an ordinary end user, TeX can do almost any
> font, but it is not seamless.    the luatex vs. xetex vs pdftex
> specializations are painful.  really.  every tex should come with only
> one version that preloads all system fonts, all latex fonts, and make
> it easy to load fonts from a different location.
>  \addfontdir{c:\windows-yikes\morefonts\}
>  \loadfont{crazyfont}
> preferably, tex should work out for itself standard encodings,
> metrics, etc.  of course, the fact that it is not so is not really
> latex's fault, but the fault of the font mess in the real world.
>
> I would love to find a way to produce epub files from latex or context
> files.  yes, typesetting each word as an image does not sound like a
> great idea.

<http://blogs.adobe.com/billmccoy/2008/09/epub_for_open_a.html>
mentions Hindawi publishing as using a latex-based workflow to
produce epub.  The samples link on the above page) and are quite
readable.

> besides, it would be good if TUG assumed a more proactive role, and
> officially deprecated old aspects of TeX.  time to move into the 21st
> century.  time for luatex to become the official standard at some
> point.  I know it may break compatibility, but TeX's age is really
> beginning to show.  the number of hackers that can still program in
> this ancient tongue is not growing.

A 3rd party can't impose a workflow on a publisher.  I expect many publishers
are looking into epub format, in no small part due to the recent
security problems
with PDF.   It is not easy for publishers to revise existing workflows. Perhaps
it is easier for a startup to invent a workflow from scratch.

-- 
George N. White III <aa056 at chebucto.ns.ca>
Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia