chuq@plaid.UUCP (05/06/87)
From: mimsy!harvard!drexel!hvrunix!klim@gymble.umd.edu (Kian-Tat Lim) Date: 6 May 87 02:55:17 GMT Organization: Haverford College, Haverford, PA In about three weeks, I will be assisting someone with the layout and design of an introductory Pascal textbook. Available hardware includes a Mac 512e, SCSI port, and 20 meg hard disk. Software includes Word 3.0 and SuperPaint. I have access to RSG3. Output will most likely be on a LW+, although use of a Linotronic typesetter might be possible. Questions I have include these: o Is this configuration adequate? As background, I have been suffering with a 128K Mac and a single 400K drive for nearly three years, so I can put up with a lot of pain if the results are OK. o Any recommendations for additional hardware or software? My budget is very limited (probably no more than $200). o Any suggestions for design/formatting? I plan to look through a whole host of textbooks I have around to try to pick out the best features, but any thoughts will be appreciated. We will undoubtedly be including Macintosh screen snapshots as well as Pascal source code. o Any other helpful hints? Thanks in advance [much as I abhor using that phrase]. -- Kian-Tat Lim Unix System Manager Haverford College, Haverford, PA 19041-1392 K_LIM @ HVRFORD.BITNET; ihnp4!cbmvax!vu-vlsi!hvrunix!klim ---------------------------------- submissions to: desktop%plaid@sun.com Administrivia to: desktop-request%plaid@sun.com Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames] There is no statute of limitations on stupidity
chuq@plaid.UUCP (05/07/87)
>Available hardware includes a >Mac 512e, SCSI port, and 20 meg hard disk. Software includes Word 3.0 and >SuperPaint. I have access to RSG3. Output will most likely be on a LW+, >although use of a Linotronic typesetter might be possible. >o Is this configuration adequate? It depends on what you want. If you're shipping your publisher camera ready pages, you'll need the linotronic. If you're shipping them a manuscript, the LW is more than enough. If you're just shipping a manuscript, and the publisher is doing the typesetting and layout, don't use RSG3. That's overkill, and will probably do more to confuse the typesetter and book designer than it will help. Stick to word, use a nice clean font (I like Bookman) at 10 or 12 point, and don't get fancy. If you're doing your own design and layout, you'll need RSG. But use RSG with a different document for each chapter. Superpaint, by the way is the best of the low-cost graphic programs and the only one that I think works well for the laserwriter. Avoid using the paint layer if at all possible, bitmaps simply don't look that good on the LW. If you want more power, look at Adobe's Illustrator or Cricket Draw. >o Any suggestions for design/formatting? I plan to look through a whole Again, are you doing the design or just turning in a manuscript. Make sure you and your publisher agree on this, because you can really mess up their operations if you send something out that is formatted differently than they are expecting. If they've got a book designer working on the book, write up a synopsis of your ideas seperately and talk to them about it. But do it the way the publisher wants it. >o Any other helpful hints? If this is your first book, keep it simple, and don't get fancy. You might also check with your publisher and offer to let them see the first chapter when it is done so they can approve the design and formatting. Much easier to fix things then than if you send them the entire manuscript in an unusable form. good luck! chuq ---------------------------------------- Submissions to: desktop%plaid@sun.com -OR- sun!plaid!desktop Administrivia to: desktop-request%plaid@sun.com -OR- sun!plaid@desktop-request Paths: {ihnp4,decwrl,hplabs,seismo,ucbvax}!sun Chuq Von Rospach chuq@sun.COM [I don't read flames] There is no statute of limitations on stupidity