dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes) (09/09/89)
Simply put we are receiving a lot of submissions to the magazine through email and on disk in various formats. Most of the incoming material is in troff (ms) format. It must end up in a QuarkExpress format after an editing cycle. + Some of our writer's prefer we send them diffs of the original troff for changes. + Our editor's would rather import the troff to Frame and use it there but... + We need to finally port it into QuarkExpress for layout and pasteup work. At first glance, DCA seems to be a good option since both Frame and QuarkExpress accept it. Unfortunately, Frame does not have a DCA output filter! Additionally, these still leaves the edit cycle problem. Editing the raw troff submissions is an option the editors are rebelling against and I tend to agree with them. Given the above constraints... Do either Chuck or Steve, (ummmm... I mean anyone reading the newsgroup have any ideas?) I've considered paying someone to come up with a MIF (Frame) to DCA filter and then giving a copy of Frame to all of our regulars. thanks, david -- David K. Fickes dfickes@expert.com Sun Expert Magazine uunet!expert!dfickes 1330 Beacon Street (617) 739-7001 Brookline, MA 02146 FAX: (617) 739-7003
thomas@gmdzi.UUCP (Thomas Gordon) (09/13/89)
From article <1989Sep9.020234.14411@expert.com>, by dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes): > Simply put we are receiving a lot of submissions to the > magazine through email and on disk in various formats. Most > of the incoming material is in troff (ms) format. It > must end up in a QuarkExpress format after an editing cycle. > > ... > I've considered paying someone to come up with a > MIF (Frame) to DCA filter and then giving a copy of Frame > to all of our regulars. > Well, I don't now if I want to get into Evangelism, but have you thought of SGML? It was designed for exactly this kind of problem. You could use the Amsterdam SGML Parser, or Sobemap's Markit to translate into the formatter of your choice. Why impose some particular formatter on your authors? (Of course, you would have to impose SGML on them, but various publishing systems support it, or are starting too: Publisher, Interleaf -- although I am not sure whether Interleaf just uses SGML interally, or can export documents to SGML -- and Author/Editor for Macs.) Tom Gordon -- Thomas F. Gordon email: thomas@gmdzi.uucp GMD / F3 phone: (+49 2241) 14-2665 Schloss Birlinghoven D-5205 Sankt Augustin 1, FRG
chuck@melmac.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) (09/13/89)
In article <1989Sep9.020234.14411@expert.com> dfickes@expert.UUCP (David Fickes) writes: >Simply put we are receiving a lot of submissions to the >magazine through email and on disk in various formats. Most >of the incoming material is in troff (ms) format. It >must end up in a QuarkExpress format after an editing cycle. It isn't clear to me that the authors need any formatting capabilities at their disposal. They should just be pouring text into predefined formats, so why don't they just send in ASCII? If there are special formatting needs, they could be handled outside the normal editorial loop. The only thing I can think of would be special font usage for certain things, but even that should be controlled by your house style. I would suggest that authors use the tool of their choice, and that the interdocument format be ASCII. Chuck Musciano ARPA : chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com Harris Corporation Usenet: ...!uunet!x102a!trantor!chuck PO Box 37, MS 3A/1912 AT&T : (407) 727-6131 Melbourne, FL 32902 FAX : (407) 727-{5118,5227,4004} Gee, Beaver, everything that's fun can get you in trouble. Haven't you learned that yet? --Gilbert
dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes) (09/14/89)
In article <1276@gmdzi.UUCP> thomas@gmdzi.UUCP (Thomas Gordon) writes: >From article <1989Sep9.020234.14411@expert.com>, by dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes): >> Simply put we are receiving a lot of submissions to the >> magazine through email and on disk in various formats. >> ... >use the Amsterdam SGML Parser, or Sobemap's Markit to translate into >the formatter of your choice. Except for the on problem that SGML is not supported by the final page layout software.... hmmmm... unless there is an intermediate step that I could take... SGML -> DCA -> QuarkExpress... -- David K. Fickes dfickes@expert.com Sun Expert Magazine uunet!expert!dfickes 1330 Beacon Street (617) 739-7001 Brookline, MA 02146 FAX: (617) 739-7003
dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes) (09/14/89)
In article <2677@trantor.harris-atd.com> chuck@trantor.harris-atd.com (Chuck Musciano) writes: > It isn't clear to me that the authors need any formatting capabilities >at their disposal. They should just be pouring text into predefined formats, >so why don't they just send in ASCII? If there are special formatting needs, >they could be handled outside the normal editorial loop. Thats what I said but unfortunately, this thing called Unix has conventions and they don't teach those conventions in Art Director's school. Everyone seems to agree that our authors know the conventions and it is silly to throw them away in the translation. I'm simply trying to preserve certain font/text changes... nothing major. But it HAS TO (SHOULD) be part of the normal editorial loop. -d -- David K. Fickes dfickes@expert.com Sun Expert Magazine uunet!expert!dfickes 1330 Beacon Street (617) 739-7001 Brookline, MA 02146 FAX: (617) 739-7003
jos@cs.vu.nl (Jos Warmer) (09/28/89)
dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes) writes: >In article <1276@gmdzi.UUCP> thomas@gmdzi.UUCP (Thomas Gordon) writes: >>From article <1989Sep9.020234.14411@expert.com>, by dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes): >>> Simply put we are receiving a lot of submissions to the >>> magazine through email and on disk in various formats. >> ... >>use the Amsterdam SGML Parser, or Sobemap's Markit to translate into >>the formatter of your choice. >Except for the on problem that SGML is not supported by the >final page layout software.... hmmmm... unless there is an >intermediate step that I could take... SGML -> DCA -> QuarkExpress... SGML documents can be converted to any other format you want. At least the Amsterdam SGML Parser can do this (I am one of the authors) and probably most other SGML parser too. An SGML parser without this possibility is much less useful. Jos Warmer jos@cs.vu.nl ...uunet!mcvax!cs.vu.nl!jos -- Jos Warmer jos@cs.vu.nl ...uunet!mcvax!cs.vu.nl!jos