Re: [OT] Is Indesign CS 2 better than ConTeXt ?

[Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>]

Henning Hraban Ramm wrote:
> Am 2006-05-25 um 13:52 schrieb luigi scarso:
>
>   
>> OK, it is a big OFF TOPIC.
>> Some notes
>> * the Elements of Typographic Style was made with Indesign (true or
>> false?) and the only
>> words about TeX is an url (true or false ?)
>> * indesign eat xml
>> * there is an indesign server; maybe actually too much complex, but in
>> the future?
>> * I don't know if IDCS2 has some programming capabilities like ConTeXt
>> Ofcourse :
>> *IDCS2 come from Adobe, so it has the feature of latest pdf spec.;
>> *IDCS2 is WYSIWYG
>> * (...possibly many others...)
>>
>> But there is one important point:
>> Can IDCS2 be view as candidate for automatic typesetting (xml- 
>>     
>>> IDCS2->pdf)  ?
>>>       
>
> At my former employer, a regional daily newspaper, we used IDCS2 in  
> an automated workflow for simple ads, not even via XML, but  
> controlling ID on a WinXP machine via VB/COM, because we needed a  
> *completely* automated solution.
> I can't tell you much about our application, because my colleague did  
> most of that job (I only delivered the data from another process).
>
> At my actual employer I use ID's XML cpabilities to typeset an event  
> calendar in a city magazine from a database. With a set of well  
> designed style templates the whole thing needs nearly no manual  
> tweaking (only with some ID bugs).
>
> But at the moment I'm planning a simple automated CD cover maker for  
> our backup CDs - using ConTeXt behind a Python GUI...
>   
i always tend to say ... "the problem does not change", so, if figuring out some clever tricks to get something done, then using id or tex makes no difference: one has to figure out the best way

what you use depends on taste; we've had (potential) customers who prefered 3b2 (argument: there's a big company behind it, but in the meantime they were sole twice, and the number of people who can program in (i think their special kind of javascript) interface is also limited; apart from pricing ... 

concerning id ... it's non free, never sure what happens in ten years (adobe dropped pagemaker, (i'm told) messed up frame, so ...) and in order to process older docs will run into compatibility problems some day; supporting pdf trickery is not a real argument, since my experience is that tex is always first in supporting new features; however, adobe is the typesetter company favorite, if only because they use more adobe things (and also because they can keep changing per page which is more proffitable than change for a simple stylesheet once); and ... publishers don't really care about costs anyway so ...) 

(occassionally we hear stories of failed tryout with 3b2, id, quark, etc while tex base solutions did the job (end kept doing it) for years already; i think that one has to decide for each situation anew) 

tex will always be a niche product 

Hans  

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