Thanks to all who have sent comments regarding PDF publication, specifically with regard to Metric Today. I've received a few private comments as well as those posted here.
Yes, I do own the full-up Adobe Acrobat (v4.0, as I recall) and have used both PDFwriter and Acrobat Distiller. I don't own MS Publisher, Adobe Pagemaker, QuarkExpress, or other such programs, nor am I inclined to purchas those for the 5 or 6 times a year that I boot up my Windows OS. On linux, I work with postscript files and there's supposed to be a way to build one's own pdf files, but I'm not up to speed on that. However, I have used lyx (a LaTeX gui) to produce PDF files. The advantage of using these linux-based programs is that they are free. In my experience, PDF does well with "normal" documents. However, with complicated equations, layouts, symbology, etc, problems can crop up easily. Also, unless all fonts used in the document are bundeled in the pdf file with the contents, readers may find "holes" in their reading. Unfortunately, bundling fonts into the files makes for larger pdf files and raises some questions about font copyrights. The experiences I spoke of relate to (largely) standards documents with fussy layout and symbology requirements and which started off only about two editions past stone and chisel editing. They have migrated through a few different versions of MS Word and have been edited countless times by various editors. Unfortunately, the only alternative to these input documents would be to type them up from scratch, essentially. But IEEE is going to do that anyway and I don't have the time to do it personally. If USMA decides to publish electronically they may wish to take some of the above into account. If they have been using the classical cut-and-paste layup, then this would require a transition to electronic layup. If their practice is to receive documents from various contributors in electronic forms, then the Metric Today editor needs to be able to merge these into the one publishing program chosen for the task. Please remember this: All the work that goes into editing and publishing Metric Today is done by volunteer effort on personally owned platforms (computers, OSes, and programs) and is uncompensated. Keep this in mind, too, please: A large part of USMA's public outreach is done by providing occasional, free copies of Metric Today to industry leaders, government officials and employees, and interested inquirers in order to give them a taste of what USMA is all about. Since a significant (if not the major) cost of publishing is the cost of setting up and cleaning the press, not the paper and ink, electronic publication would end up saving USMA a smaller sum than one might suppose. Jim -- Metric Methods(SM) "Don't be late to metricate!" James R. Frysinger, CAMS http://www.metricmethods.com/ 10 Captiva Row e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Charleston, SC 29407 phone/FAX: 843.225.6789
