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Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)

• From: Sebastian Rahtz <sebastian.rahtz@c...>
• To: mrc@a...
• Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2000 09:41:09 +0100 (BST)

Marcus Carr writes:

 > So if you wanted to use a different FO application to render that
 > book, you would likely have to go back to the source document and
 > redo your page breaks, right?

Yes, definitely. But how big a job is that, compared to translating the
style rules from (say) LaTeX to Framemaker. If I have to switch to a
new FO formatter, I have a not inconsiderable task on my hands,
if I want to rerun old jobs. But the effort I put into instantiating
design rules as FOs remains, and I claim that I am ahead of the game.

 > If the two applications used different hyphenation dictionaries, there is a
 > distinct possibility that the page breaks would change in a 300 page book.

every time ..... never mind, just how they interpret font
metrics. applications use their own ideas about default inter-word
spacing, because its not part of a font metric

 > are benefits in everyone using the same terminology, but I believe
 > that FOs are intended to fulfill a much bigger role than that. My
 > understanding is that they're supposed to "free us from the
 > shackles of formatting applications", but
 > I've yet to be convinced that they can deliver this.

I am with you there. The unshackling notion sounds fanciful

Sebastian Rahtz


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• Follow-Ups:
  • Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: Marcus Carr <mrc@a...>

• References:
  • Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: "Eve L. Maler" <Eve.Maler@e...>
  • Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: "Eve L. Maler" <Eve.Maler@e...>
  • The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: David Megginson <david@m...>
  • Future of Formatting Objects (XSL/FO)
    • From: Thierry Hanser <thanser@c...>
  • Re: Future of Formatting Objects (XSL/FO)
    • From: Peter Murray-Rust <peter@u...>
  • Re: Future of Formatting Objects (XSL/FO)
    • From: Marcus Carr <mrc@a...>
  • Re: Future of Formatting Objects (XSL/FO)
    • From: Sebastian Rahtz <sebastian.rahtz@c...>
  • Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: "Eve L. Maler" <Eve.Maler@e...>
  • Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: "Sebastian Rahtz" <sebastian.rahtz@c...>
  • Re: The problem with typography (with or without flow objects)
    • From: Marcus Carr <mrc@a...>

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