What about using Latex? Nick
> -----Original Message----- > From: scribus-bounces at nashi.altmuehlnet.de > [mailto:scribus-bounces at nashi.altmuehlnet.de] On Behalf Of wtb41 > Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 8:26 AM > To: scribus at nashi.altmuehlnet.de > Subject: [Scribus] Open Source Software and Book Authors > > > I have written a book containing no graphics (no pictures or > charts); it has straight type, bulleted lists, numbered > lists, and tables. I need the ability to automate the > building of a table of contents and an index. In addition to > the standard font for type, I need a font (expert set) > providing small caps, ligatures, and oldstyle figures. I need > to be able to produce a PDF with embedded fonts. I also need > an option regarding subsetting of the embedded fonts (some > book manufacturers want subsetting; others don't). > > As far as I know, the open-source community offers 2 > applications that might be used to meet my needs. They are > (1) Scribus and (2) OpenOffice.org's Writer. Neither of these > applications is feasible today. Here are the > reasons: > > 1. Scribus cannot (a) automate the building of a table of > contents and an index or (b) import tables. The procedures > that have been sketched to me for getting tables (from > another document) into a Scribus document are too onerous to > be considered seriously (my book has many tables). So scratch > Scribus off the list of feasible solutions. > > 2. OpenOffice.org's Writer. I have encountered 2 major > problems that almost surely are bugs within Writer. These > problems are as follows: > > a. Writer's font menu. I bought 4 Windows Postscript > fonts: (1) Adobe Garamond Regular, (2) Adobe Garamond, > Italic, (3) Adobe Garamond, Bold, and > (4) Adobe Garamond Regular Expert. I got all 4 of these fonts > working in Scribus simply by entering the path to the folder > containing the font files (really simple). I installed the > fonts into Microsoft Word (using the free ATM light), and all > 4 fonts worked perfectly. The 4 fonts appeared on 3 lines in > Word's font menu. One line serves the regular and italic > styles, with italic (true italic) produced with the I (I for > Italic) botton. A second font-menu line says, "AGaramond, > Bold." It appears on a separate line because the family of > fonts contains a semibold (which the B button produces). The > third font-menu line says, "AGaramondExp." I have tried > valiently to install the fonts in Writer, and each attempt > has failed. I installed them first using the program called > spadmin. When that did not work, I used KDE's Font Installer. > I installed the fonts in the order listed above. Each of the > first 3 fonts installed and worked fine until the expert set > was installed. After its installation, the font menu still > had only one line for the fonts, and now it produced only > glyphs from the expert set. The first 3 fonts became > inaccessible. I got that same result using both installers. > It's clearly not a font problem (because they work perfectly > in Scribus and Microsoft Word). Logic suggests an application > problem, the application being Writer. > > b. Writer's PDF generator. I added small caps and > oldstyle figures to my book's first chapter. I then used > Writer's Export as PDF menu option to produce a PDF of the > chapter. The PDF has multiple defects, all of which concern > small caps. Each defect appears at first sight as tho a > letter did not print (a missing-letter look). But upon close > inspection, one sees that the letter is there (in the PDF), > but it's misplaced. Example: Three letters should have > appeared (in small caps) as IMO. Instead of that clean > 3-letter appearance, the O prints over the M (the M and the O > are superimposed). The PDF generator put the I; then it moved > one space to the right, and put the M. It should have moved > one more space to the right and put the O, but it didn't. It > put the O in the same spot at the M (the M and the O are > superimposed on one another). This error occurs 17 times in 6 > pages of text, but not every instance of small caps has this > error. Example: page 2 has (in small caps) BTW, and each of > the 3 letters is in its proper place. Then page > 6 has SST in small caps. Those 3 letters also are in their > proper places. > Sometimes the misplaced letter is at the end of a string > (such as IMO); other times it is in the interior of a string > (as in GUIDE, where the I is misplaced to give the > missing-letter look, as in GU DE, with the I printed over > the U and a blank space where the I should be.). > > My work on Chapter 1 produced a series of 7 PDFs of that > chapter. Each of the 7 contained the aforementioned defects; > so it was not a one-time fluke. > The aforementioned defects--all involving small caps--could > be due to (1) the font, (2) the PDF generator, or (3) the PDF > viewer. The problem is not the font because it displays and > prints perfectly in the OpenOffice Writer application. The > problems first surfaced in the PDF. The problem is not the > PDF viewer because I viewed it with 2 viewers [the one within > Linux (KPDF) and Adobe Acrobat's Reader within Windows]. Both > viewers showed these defects. I then printed a hard copy of > page 6 from the PDF, and page 6's defects (those listed > above) appeared on the hard copy. Ergo, the problem > apparently lies with Writer's PDF generator. > > I also should mention that Writer offers no option regarding > the subsetting of fonts during the PDF-generating process. > The PDF viewer (KPDF) that came with my Mepis 6.0 > distribution tells me that fonts are embedded in the PDF, but > it does not tell me whether it subset them. > > The bottom line: It appears as tho the open source community > does not now offer an application that will meet my current > needs regarding my book's publication. Your thoughts on the > matter will be appreciated. > > Bill Bailey > -- > View this message in context: > http://www.nabble.com/Open-Source-Software-and-Book-Authors-tf 2827027.html#a7891370 > Sent from the Scribus mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > _______________________________________________ > Scribus mailing list > Scribus at nashi.altmuehlnet.de > http://nashi.altmuehlnet.de/mailman/listinfo/scribus >
