Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!unhd!ncf
From: ncf@uunet!unhd (Nick C Fitanides)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Word Processors & PostScript
Message-ID: <1990Sep28.155551.11300@uunet!unhd>
Date: 28 Sep 90 15:55:51 GMT
References: <895@h.cs.wvu.wvnet.edu> <558@macuni.mqcc.mq.oz>
Reply-To: ncf@unhd.unh.edu (Nick C Fitanides)
Organization: University of New Hampshire Computer Science
Lines: 49

>You have to be careful here.  Because the Amiga does not support
>properly device independent graphics (that great double edged sword),
^^^^ 'cept of course, X Windows.

>many programs handle postscript poorly.  Of particular note (for it's
^^^^ 'cept of course, Pro Page, Pro Draw, and many other obvious desktop
	publishers...
>stupidity) is Excellence!, which just dumps a bitmap to the Postscript
>printer.  I suppose this is WYSIWYG, you get what you see on the screen,
>at the same resolution, in the same horrible fonts.  MSS should have
>been shot for that.
^^^^  You should be shot for not checking out all the features of the 
	program.  Excellence! has _direct_, _crystal clear_ PostScript
	support for Times-Roman, Helvetica, Courier and Symbol in 8, 12, 18
	and 24 points.  The newest version may have even more.  These ARE NOT
	bit-mapped fonts; they are TRUE PostScript implementations.
>
>So ask for samples of PS output to see the quality before you purchase,
>and if you know a little Postscript (which is a good idea) you might
>also like to scan through the resultant code just to see how well it is
>written.  I have been known to throw out packages (especially those from
>MicroSoft on other platforms) because their PS code generation is so
>poor.
^^^^  Definately a good idea.  Some app's are notoriously inefficient in
	producing code.  Pro Page does not selectively print only the piece
	of a PostScript prolog which are used by the main program, but prints
	all the prolog, no matter how long the file.  This leads to relatively
	large PostScript outputs for relatively small files.  Overall, though,
	it is an _excellent_ product.

	Note:  many other word processors now support PostScript.  I believe
	Pro Write has a module called Pro Script which will output PostScript,
	but I'm not too sure about actual PostScript font selection.  I use
	Excellence almost exclusively, though in some areas it's not perfect.
	All around it's a very good product, and the grammar analyzer is fun
	to use.
>
>--
>Ian Farquhar                      Phone : 61 2 805-9403
>Office of Computing Services      Fax   : 61 2 805-7433
>Macquarie University  NSW  2109   Also  : 61 2 805-7205
>Australia                         EMail : ifarqhar@suna.mqcc.mq.oz.au
^^^^ Maybe far away from newest software from the US?

-- 
+----------------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+
.   /                  .      Nick Fitanides     . Internet: ncf@unhd.unh.edu  |
. \/ Amiga users unite!.                         . BITNET:  N_FITANIDES@UNHH   |
+----------------------+-------------------------+-----------------------------+