Re: [Groff] *roff for desktop publishing - is it feasible?

[Gerard Lally]

On Sun, 23 Oct 2016, at 23:24, Peter Schaffter wrote:
> On Sun, Oct 23, 2016, Gerard Lally wrote:
> > Is it possible to lay out a page, as in the attached sample file,
> > using *roff? I'm about to commit myself to learning troff and friends
> > more thoroughly. Before I start I'd like to have a broad idea of its
> > limitations.
> 
> It's all doable with groff.  The images would have to be converted
> to PostScript or PDF, depending on the macro package and output
> device used (i.e. -Tps [PostScript device, grops] or -Tpdf [PDF
> device, gropdf]).  Whatever fonts you're using could easily be
> converted for groff (Type 1, TrueType, OpenType can all be
> converted).
> 
> I would not, however, use groff for this kind of layout.  The effort
> involved wouldn't be worth the candle.  A good page layout program
> is more suitable because it would allow quick, visual positioning of
> the images and blocks of type.  In groff, you'd have to specify
> every horizontal and vertical page motion, which, unless you were
> working from a fully marked-up mockup, would involve a lot of trial
> and error, especially for text flowing around objects.

What if you have a mixed document, like a magazine article, where you
might have pages of text interspersed with a page here and there of text
and graphics? You would still want *roff for its typographical benefits,
surely? Have you ever used *roff and a page layout program together to
produce a single document like this?