Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!usc!bloom-beacon!eru!luth!sunic!mcsun!unido!gmdzi!thomas
From: thomas@gmdzi.UUCP (Thomas Gordon)
Newsgroups: comp.text.desktop
Subject: Re: Text Movement Problems....
Message-ID: <1276@gmdzi.UUCP>
Date: 13 Sep 89 12:26:32 GMT
References: <1989Sep9.020234.14411@expert.com>
Organization: GMD, Sankt Augustin, F. R. Germany
Lines: 29

From article <1989Sep9.020234.14411@expert.com>, by dfickes@expert.com (David Fickes):
> Simply put we are receiving a lot of submissions to the 
> magazine through email and on disk in various formats.  Most 
> of the incoming material is in troff (ms) format.  It 
> must end up in a QuarkExpress format after an editing cycle.  
> 
> ...
>  I've considered paying someone to come up with a
> MIF (Frame) to DCA filter and then giving a copy of Frame
> to all of our regulars.
> 

Well, I don't now if I want to get into Evangelism, but have you thought
of SGML?  It was designed for exactly this kind of problem.  You could
use the Amsterdam SGML Parser, or Sobemap's Markit to translate into
the formatter of your choice.  Why impose some particular formatter on
your authors?  (Of course, you would have to impose SGML on them, but 
various publishing systems support it, or are starting too: Publisher,
Interleaf -- although I am not sure whether Interleaf just uses SGML 
interally, or can export documents to SGML -- and Author/Editor for Macs.)

Tom Gordon


-- 
Thomas F. Gordon		                    email: thomas@gmdzi.uucp
GMD / F3			                          phone: (+49 2241) 14-2665
Schloss Birlinghoven
D-5205 Sankt Augustin 1, FRG