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author | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
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committer | Norbert Preining <norbert@preining.info> | 2019-09-02 13:46:59 +0900 |
commit | e0c6872cf40896c7be36b11dcc744620f10adf1d (patch) | |
tree | 60335e10d2f4354b0674ec22d7b53f0f8abee672 /usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_2/clark.tex |
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diff --git a/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_2/clark.tex b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_2/clark.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..7337d482df --- /dev/null +++ b/usergrps/uktug/baskervi/4_2/clark.tex @@ -0,0 +1,217 @@ +\def\PS{\textsc{PostScript}} +\title{Malcolm\rq{}s Gleanings} +\author[Malcolm Clark]{Malcolm Clark\\\texttt{m.clark@warwick.ac.uk}} +\begin{Article} +\newcommand{\TL}{{\em \TeX\kern-0.1emline}} +\subsection{Rest in peace} +For a number of years, the \lq{}maverick\rq{} (so described by Adrian \lq{}no relation\rq{} +Clark) occasional publication \TL\ made its infrequent appearance. The last +issue, number 14, came out in February 1992. As the erstwhile editor I now +reluctantly admit that it has ceased publication. I had hoped that it might +survive to a ripe old age (like issue 20), but a variety +of reasons compel me to abandon it. \TL\ was always a free +publication, so at least I don\rq{}t feel that there is a vast +subscription paying audience out there which will feel aggrieved +at not receiving the next edition. After all, part of the deal +was supposed to be that if you wrote for it you were then +on the subscription list. To the list of contributors, sorry, +your subscriptions have lapsed. To the rest of you, well, you +know you get what you pay for. + +There are now plenty of other ways to disseminate information about +\TeX\ and family. Estimable publications like \BV, \emph{Lettres + GUTenberg} (no, not \emph{Lettres fran\c cais}), TTN and the Dutch + group\rq{}s MAPS more than adequately fill any holes that might have + been left by \TL, and have the great virtue of being related to + various groups. I hope that this encourages people to belong to + those groups. + +Of course there are other ways to spread the word. The electronic +distribution of information is an obvious alternative. Why, for +example, don\rq{}t we have all these journals and newsletters (or annals) +up on WWW (World Wide Web)? TTN is already available in electronic +form, but I think I can see the day when it is available in (say) \PS\ +form so that I can just call it up on the screen in front of me. The +problem here lies in one of the recurrent problems of material +available on the Internet -- who would bother subscribing to TUG or +the UK group if one of the key benefits of membership, the +publications, was already available electronically? I still prefer +bits of paper (I can easily take them home, read them in the bath, +make notes on them -- and the batteries rarely run flat), but paper +may be a luxury we can\rq{}t really afford. I\rq{}m moderately hopeful that +gadgets like the Sony DiscMan, together with emerging technologies +like Adobe\rq{}s Acrobat may make portable electronic books a realistic +alternative. + + +\subsection{Carousel?} +A couple of years ago, Adobe Systems started +to introduce their \lq{}Multiple Masters\rq{} technology. At the time it was +not wholly clear what their agenda really was. Multiple Masters allow +you to retain the \lq{}look and feel\rq{} of a printed (or screen) document +when you do not have access to the \lq{}correct\rq{} fonts. Imagine you had +been sent \BV\ electronically, but without the embedded Baskerville +fonts which are part of its corporate identity. Exactly what would +happen when you tried to view it or print it depends on lots of +things: at the worst you might not be able to view it at all; +alternatively you might have some substitution which retained +character widths, or character positions. The effect is that you would +end up with something which was frankly unpleasant. The content would +still be the \BV\ you have come to love, but its appearance would be +well below the standard which we have come to expect. + +Adobe\rq{}s solution was to develop a scheme where two font +families were introduced which would attempt to emulate +the characteristics of the \lq{}missing\rq{} font(s). All this means is +that they would have the same character widths and heights +(slants, weights or whatever) so that the colour of the +\lq{}page\rq{} would be similar. Of course, there was no intention that +this would be an exact reproduction -- just that it would preserve +characteristics like line breaks and the other physical attributes +of the page. The two base fonts introduced were Minion and Myriad +(now renamed Adobe Sans and Adobe Serif, I think). These were +placed in the public domain. + +Originally Adobe\rq{}s marketing people (probably to put us off the true +scent) were suggesting that this was the start of a wide range of +Multiple Master fonts. In passing, this is where Yannis Haralambous in +the last edition of \BV\ was misled. He states that -- \lq{}These (MM) are +extremely complex and memory consuming, but still much poorer than +\MF\ created fonts\rq{}: this may be true, but it is totally irrelevant +and misses the point entirely; this is not what was going on at +all. It was all a prelude to Acrobat, or, as it was originally +code-named, Carousel. Multiple Masters were simply an enabling +technology which had to be in place before Acrobat could be +released. I had originally supposed that part of the reason behind MM +was font licensing. The copyright of fonts depends on the country in +which you sit. See, for example, Chuck Bigelow\rq{}s article in \TUB\ +(\lq{}Notes on typeface protection\rq{}, vol.7(3), 1986). It is by no means +certain that you have the right to transmit the details of any +arbitrary font electronically: by doing so you may be in breach of +copyright (there is no use pleading that Bodoni has been dead for more +than 50 years, or Baskerville for that matter -- they never held the +copyright anyway). Another reason not to do this is that encoding or +embedding the fonts takes up an enormous amount of space. If you are +transmitting a book sized document, the extra for fonts is no big +issue: if you are transmitting something relatively short, it could be +the biggest item. There are therefore legal and practical reasons for +this route. + +Once we have an Acrobat document, it can be transmitted electronically +without difficulty, and can be read by anyone with an Acrobat +reader. Such readers seem destined to be made available with every +machine, virtually as part of the operating system. It no longer +matters what software was used to prepare the original -- you will +still be able to see what the author intended, without having that +software yourself. There are other little advantages: the one I like +most is the post-it notes that you can attach to the document. For +example, this could mean that as an author I send my Acrobat document +(which of course started life as \TeX\ or \LaTeX) to my publisher, +whose editors would annotate via the post-it notes. I then revise the +returned document. It all starts to sound very plausible. And yes, it +does work. + +Another pleasing feature is the ability to search the Acrobat +documents. This works reasonably well, although, as you might expect, +ligatures (and I dare say, diacriticals) don\rq{}t yet work properly. Of +course, years and years ago you could search a dvi file for text +strings with ArborText\rq{}s previewer, with just the same sorts of +restrictions. I think it is always good when the innovations +introduced through \TeX\ and its associated products becomes +incorporated into mainstream technologies like this. It shows how +\TeX\ leads the way. + +\subsection{Knuth, the video} + +Donald Knuth is now available on video: University Video +Communications, based at Stanford, now have a tape of Knuth\rq{}s +\lq{}Computer musings\rq{} in which he discusses the One-Way Associative +Law. Sounds just the thing for a stocking filler next Christmas. + + +\subsection{Sheep stealing in Barnet} +From time to time a chestnut re-appears. A half remembered quotation +from Frederic Goudy is trotted out: \lq{}\lq{}anyone who would letterspace +lower case would steal sheep\rq{}\rq{}. There are many who concur with the +spirit of this statement, but unfortunately it isn\rq{}t what Fred +said. Matters have been confused recently by the publication of a book +by Erik Spiekermann \& E M Ginger entitled \lq{}Stop Stealing Sheep\rq{}, +which does contain the erroneous quotation. Fortunately they also +print the correct version. What Goudy actually said was \lq{}\lq{}anyone who +would letterspace black letter would steal sheep\rq{}\rq{}. Where does that +leave us? In \BV\ 3(2) I noted that Eric Gill suggests letterspacing +lower case as a substitute for italics. While I know of no rumours +that Gill actually {\em stole\/} sheep, that might have been the least +of their worries. + + +\subsection{Public domain does not mean user unfriendly} + +In another surprising outburst (one by-product of the remarkable +mud-wrestling competition held with Berthold Horn, judged by most +observers to result in a draw), Yannis Haralambous suggests in a +footnote that \lq{}public domain software is never as user-friendly as +commercial\rq{}: I beg to differ. I have the doubtful pleasure of a +Windows machine on my desk. One of its few really excellent pieces of +software is Pegasus, a Windows-based electronic mailer. It is simple, +straightforward, and almost a pleasure to use. A true pleasure to use +is Eudora, another mailer, on the Macintosh. Both of these are public +domain, and I challenge anyone to carp significantly about their user +interface. + +In fact, I\rq{}m rather surprised by Yannis\rq{} assertion that \lq{}important +innovations (in \TeX\ etc) have always appeared first in public domain +software\rq{}: I have only to think back to the release of \TeX\ on the +pc: this was not in the public domain but was the result of +significant and independent work by Lance Carnes and David Fuchs -- +maybe it was not an important innovation, but to me, freeing \TeX\ +from the restrictions of academic mainframe computers and releasing it +to the personal computer level seems a quantum leap forward. Even +Yannis\rq{} beloved virtual fonts were released first by ArborText, many +years before they became commonplace. There are countless other +examples around -- think of Blue Sky\rq{}s innovative Lightning Textures, +or Michael Vulis\rq{} V\TeX. This continued denigration of the importance +which commercial vendors have had in the adoption and spread of \TeX\ +smacks of a re-writing of easily verifiable history. They were there: +they supported us all for many years until public domain versions of +the program finally became robust and reliable. I believe they still +have a place in the development of \TeX\ and \TeX\ tools. I just hope +they don\rq{}t get so frustrated by the lack of understanding and respect +they receive that they abandon the game entirely. + + +\subsection{Hints \& Tips} + +At the first meeting that this group held at RHBNC one of the \lq{}events\rq{} +was a \LaTeX\ tables workshop. One of the problems that always comes +up with tables is the incredible contortions that you have to go +through to make the floating tables appear just where it is that you +want. It would be naive to assume that this is going to be one of the +problems that will disappear with \LaTeX3. In the first place it is +extremely difficult to come up with a sensible and coherent set of +rules which describe the variety of conditions and exceptions to +figure and table placement; in the second place, the \LaTeX\ defaults +are perhaps not the best chosen. At least we can do something about +that, although there are rather too many parameters to be able to come +up with a definitive optimal set of values. However, at the RHBNC +meeting, Geeti Granger of John Wiley \& Sons provided a set of values +which she suggests had been used with more success at John Wiley than +the defaults. She suggested the values in the following table: + +\begin{tabular}{lrr} +parameter & default & suggested \\ +\hline +topnumber & 2 & 2 \\ +bottomnumber & 1 & 2 \\ +totalnumber & 3 & 4 or 2 \\ +dbltopnumber & 2 & 2 \\ +\verb|\topfraction| & 0.7 & 0.9 \\ +\verb|\bottomfraction| & 0.3 & 0.5 \\ +\verb|\textfraction| & 0.2 & 0.1 \\ +\verb|\floatpagefraction| & 0.5 & 0.8 \\ +\verb|\dbltopfraction| & 0.7 & 0.9 \\ +\verb|\dblfloatpagefraction| & 0.5 & 0.8 +\end{tabular} +\end{Article} +\endinput + |