[XeTeX] XeLaTeX and math --- a structural design query

[Nicolas Vaughan]

Thanks to all for your replies. They have all been enlightening. Your
advises will all be well taken by me.

Later in the day I will address George's questions (I'm in as rush now!).
Best wishes,

Nicolas Vaughan


On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 7:17 AM, George N. White III <gnwiii at gmail.com>wrote:

> On Thu, Jun 18, 2009 at 12:34 AM, Nicolas Vaughan<nivaca at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> > I have been commissioned by a university to design a collection of
> > monographs on mathematics. I should be providing a class file, a user
> manual
> > and a typeset example.
>
> This leaves out the workflow.   What steps are needed to go from the
> author's files to the press-ready files?   Will there be resources to make
> corrections to crummy artwork, check bibliographic references, redo
> crummy tables, etc?   Are you working with an existing university press?
> Do they have experience with TeX and mathematics?
>
> > At the outset, I decided to work in XeLaTeX, since this is the system I
> have
> > been working with lately, and with which I feel quite comfortable.
> > However, some folks have told me that, since I know not what the precise
> > content of the monographs will be (apart from the usual LaTeX packages
> and
> > AMS commands and environments), there is a risk there might be a clash
> > between XeLaTeX and the content (e.g., with commutative diagrams,
> perhaps?).
> > What do you suggest? Should I stick to plain old LaTeX, or should I go
> all
> > the way through with XeLaTeX?
>
> Others have provided good advice, but it would help to know more about the
> background.   If you expect authors to provide source documents you should
> consider what they are doing now, e.g., publishing in English language
> journals
> using LaTeX with eps figures and try to stay close to their existing
> workflows.
>
> In an environment were the source documents are mainly unicode (e.g., Word
> and not using English) and no legacy LaTeX workflow, XeLaTeX might be
> easier
> for the authors.
>
> Ross Moore mentioned problems with author-generated figures.   Do you have
> any control over how figures are created?  Many publishers still want
> "EPS",
> by which they mean Adobe Illustrator files.  I find that older authors have
> some
> experience with EPS, but that it is a mystery to those who have only used
> MS Office.   PDF is much more accessible (everyone has a PDF viewer)
> so you should be prepared to consider a PDF workflow if EPS is not
> something your authors have experienced.
>
> --
> George N. White III <aa056 at chebucto.ns.ca>
> Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia
>
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