The E-Sylum:  Volume 7, Number 38, September 19, 2004, Article 14

AUTHORING TOOLS

  Answering the query about software for authoring numismatic
  texts, Arthur Shippee writes: "It's probably best to learn what
  your publisher wants first.  Prior to that, keep it simple and
  something you're comfortable with.

  If it's text that you have to send as an attachment, try RTF
  or TXT formats;  if it's graphics, send it low-res. (72 dpi for
  the screen) first, unless you know they want and expect a big
  file.  Simpler formats should do at earlier stages, and then
  you'll discuss more finished products."

  Chris Hopkins writes: "The answer to Dan Gosling's question
  is -- it depends. Is the document for submission to a journal
  or a job going to the local print shop? Regardless, I
  recommend he create his document in the word processing
  or publishing software with which he is most comfortable and
  deliver it to his editors or publishers in a format that they
  accept. You must ask in advance.

  I have done a bit of publishing including several books plus
  numerous newsletters and articles. From my experience, the
  universal solution for print shop documents is the Adobe PDF
  format. While I personally prefer to work in Microsoft Word
  2003 or Microsoft Publisher, I use Adobe's Acrobat program
  to prepare those documents for printing. Essentially, the PDF
  is an electronic image of a "printed" document and is almost
  universally accepted by professional print shops as well as
  your local quick print shop (Kinko's, Sir Speedy, etc.).
  Adobe has wisely put their PDF specification in the public
  domain and there are cheaper competing programs.

  In the PDF you can embed images and specialty fonts to
  insure the final printed document has the exact appearance
  of your original work whether your print shop has a copy
  of your fonts or not. If the exact size of an image -- a coin
  at 1:1 scale, for example -- is important, be aware that the
  print shop may zoom the page image to fit the paper and
  you must discuss that possibility before printing, and include
  a scale ruler in the document to obtain accurate reproduction.

  If you deliver your document in any other format than a
  PDF with embedded fonts, you must ensure that your
  publisher has the same fonts. This is absolutely crucial if
  you are using an unusual specialty font.

  Another advantage of the Adobe Acrobat program is that
  it can also make a version of your document suitable for
  use as web pages on the Internet. These have a lower
  resolution than the print job files, but are quite acceptable
  for display on the 72 or 96 dpi low resolution screens
  most of us use with our computers."

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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