Typesetting from Word, take II

["Geoff Hart (by way of \"Eric J. Ray\" <ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com>)" <ght -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Tracey Moore elaborated on my previous comments that I hadn't been
able to find a printer willing to output files directly from Word:

<<Just one comment, and this isn't a flame>>

Nope. An important clarification, as it turns out.

<<We are producing our manuals (that have extensive graphics) in Word
and our printer prints them on a Linotronic. They don't output them
directly from Word. . .I create a postscript file first.>>

I neglected to mention that this does indeed work just fine: if you
can successfully output your file from your Postscript laser
printer, the same file will output just as well on a Lino (provided
you specify your fonts correctly or embed them). The biggest drawback
to sending files to your printer in Postscript format is that the
files are essentially uneditable if you discover a typo at the last
minute or your graphiste mucks up the layering so the top layer
becomes the back layer by mistake. (Been there, done that.) The best
service bureaus have someone on staff who can dive into the
Postscript file and patch the problem, but it's so much easier (thus
faster and cheaper) to do it directly in the original file.

There are also issues with picking the correct graphics settings
(e.g., photo halftone screen angles and resolution), but you can
solve these with some trial and error. To me, the biggest problem is
that Word simply doesn't adequately support color: an embedded color
EPS image should still print fine (I haven't tried this), but so far
as I've been able to discover (and someone please correct me if I'm
wrong), you can't tag Word's paragraph styles with CMYK or Pantone
colors, which renders the software useless for producing color
publications.

--Geoff Hart @8^{)}     Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"Patience comes to those who wait."--Anon.

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