On 1/3/07, Francesco Pietra <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Couple of naive questions: --Trying to upload to the editor's web site a manuscript in *.odt format, the answer is "unknown type of file". --Then, trying to upload a *.png file, the answer is again "unknown type of file". Checking the guidelines for authors, the site is right and I was wrong: text should be in doc format and graphics in flat jpeg, no impressive export of povray recognized. My first (naive) question is: am I too much ahead (in publishing tools) or are the editors in organic chemistry so much behind (in publishing tools)?
The underlying problem with publishing is the high cost of the typesetting equipment and printing. It is hard to make money publishing, so many organizations are still running decades old equipment. The editor may have a current system, but ultimately everything has to end up in the same format they were using in 1990. Because MS Word is so widely used, there are well-tested ways (PostScript drivers, import filters to proprietary typesetting packages) to feed the typesetters. If you have a phototypesetter with a PostScript RIP, you don't want to let just any PS file onto the machine -- many PS files take hours to render at typesetter resolutions, or want to use "zero" width lines, etc. that produce useless plates.
At any event, my second (naive) question is: what about editors in other areas?
Many shops will accept any format that prints on their laserwriter -- they just scan it on a high-end scanner and save to a format they like. Some shops that are fussy about quality will even have an artist trace over the scanned artwork. Many publishers contract out the jobs of converting author files to plates or the format they use. At one time there was a small company in Toronto that specialized in subcontracts for school textbook layout. They used FTL TeX (on m68k macs long after the PPC Macs came out) to create EPS's of each page, which they "placed" in Quark so they could deliver Quark files to the publisher. A couple years ago I did some work with with a Japanese press that was still using m68k Macs to run the RIP and drive the typesetter. -- George N. White III <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Head of St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
