chuq%plaid@Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach) (05/12/87)
From: munnari!murdu.oz!sue@seismo.CSS.GOV
Date: 12 May 87 13:12:44 +1000 (Tue)
There has been some debate over the virtues and vices of WYSIWYG and batch
mode preparation for publishing and it would seen that what is really required
is the ability to use BOTH methods. People are saying the package I've got is
good because it does x,y,z but the problem is that it doesn't do a,b,c.
As the desktop publishing industry develops and expands we will see systems
which come closer to meeting all of our requirements. For an insight into what
will be available it is worth looking at what the commercial publishing
packages provide.
Three years ago I worked for a company called 'Cybergraphic Systems' which
has since opened an office in the US (New Hampshire, I think). Cybergraphics
has developed a publishing system which was originally designed to be used
by three main user types; - Newspapers, Book Publishers, or Typesetters
(ie for Advertising) as a result it has a lot of features which you would not
normally find in a single package as most are designed for only one of these
purposes. For instance a list of some features follows;
Newspapers: - Advertising, automatic accounting for line and display ads
- Page Layout (a page consists of many articles, ads etc.)
- ability to include and edit scanned pictures
Book Publishing - Footnotes, Sidenotes, Tables, Pictures
- Differing left and right page headers and footers
- up to 6 columns
- Mathematical typesetting
- Vertical Justification
Typesetting: - automatic ligatures - if they are available in the font
- ability to specify all details to accuracy of typesetter
ie. 1/2 to 1/10 point for point size and
1/20 to 1/100 for positioning
- hyphenation and spelling dictionary
- control over maximum and minimum inter word and inter
character spacing for line justification
- small caps, fractions (use the characters in the font or
generate if necessary)
- dropped capitals
- kerning (user definable, in addition to provided tables,
and you can have different kerning values for different
point sizes (ie. Linotype fonts where 6 point Times is
very different to 36 point Times)
All this and more !! The system was initially written as a batch mode system
where the user enters the text with embeded commands, which is all you need
a lot of the time. So why buy typists, journalists etc. an expensive terminal
when a cheap VT100 will do ? Information such as where line breaks occur,
hyphenation and overall document length is provided within the document.
However, there is also a need to do page layout, and editing where you can see
exactly what will be output. This is provided for by high resolution-600x1000?
terminals (with a mouse) which allows the user to preview and edit a single
article or a page of articles. I left the company when this had just been
developed so I'm not very familiar with it.
Hardware: It runs on VAX/VMS, the company builds a range of terminals and
workstations with special keyboards and can drive most typesetters;
Compugraphic CG8400, CG8600, Linotype Linotron 202, 101 and Mergenthaler
Monotype - a laser typesetter, and probably others by now.
The Cybergraphic System is a complete commercial package so its probably
a bit expensive to be considered as a desktop publishing system, but from
the way people are talking about what they want from desktop publishing I
would suggest that this is what it will be like in a few years time.
Sue McPherson
Software Contracts Group
University of Melbourne
P.S. They have had reviews in various Seybold Reports if you want more
details or contact information.
Discalimer: I have had no connections with Cybergraphics for almost 3 years and
this article does not in any way represent the views or opinions
of the University of Melbourne.
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Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames]
There is no statute of limitations on stupidity