Re: [Groff] conversion to DOC format

[Ted Harding]

On 05-Aug-04 Jeff Conrad wrote:
> I don't understand why people refuse to accept PDF as an alternative,
> given the free availability of the latest version of Acrobat Reader,
> vs. the difficulties in reading some of the different Word formats. 
> Perhaps they don't know what PDF is ... these seem to be the same
> folks who pronounce ASCII as "asky 2" ...

I am increasingly gratified to experience ever wider acceptance of PDF,
even from people I had previously thought would never manage to see
beyond W{or|eir}d.

For a document which you intend to stand "as is" (which would normally
include CVs and the other sorts you also mentioned), there's no reason
to concede on this point, in these days. Then you can set your document
using groff, get it just as you wish it to be seen, and send it off as
PDF.

However, there does remain the case wherethe recipient may reasonably
wish to edit the document you send. Here, the situation remains
problematic and I have not found an easy solution.[*]

A PDF containing essentially plain text can of course be used as a
"cut&paste" source, though strange characters may cause trouble and
equations and other special stuff will not usually give anything
meaningful.

[*] Well, there is one -- everyone should adopt groff (OK, if you
insist, alternatively TeX). But I'm reminded of my co-translator
on the Ifrah book who watched me type groff source and went up in
the air about "weird nonsense". Until he saw the PS come up on screen,
whereupon he was duly impressed. However, since he was the ultimate
editor for the final version, he respectfully declined to have
anything to do with editing a groff source (which he would have
tried to do in Word anyway). There is still a way to go.

Cheers,
Ted.


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Date: 05-Aug-04                                       Time: 23:36:51
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