[OS X TeX] Translating LaTeX to Quark or InDesign

[Axel E. Retif]

On  29 Jun, 2007, at 17:31, David R. Derbes wrote:

> It's a long story but I have retyped an old book (with quite a lot of
> math in it) so that a friend may republish it. As it happens, the
> friend's typesetter uses mostly Quard Xpress, but is willing to
> consider InDesign. Another possibility is (ugh) to convert to Word.

This is really ridiculous. Why to typeset a book that's already  
typeset? True ---every publishing house has format norms ---type  
area, margins, running heads, etc.---; you just have to format your  
book to their specifications. In the publishing house I work at we do  
books in Quark, InDesign, LaTeX and TeX, and each series has specific  
formats we follow independently of the application we choose in each  
case. If we receive the book in Word, we decide which application is  
best for that work; but if the book is already in LaTeX, why re-typeset?


> There seems to be some software that converts LaTeX to Word and
> equations to MathType. I am willing to buy this software and do the
> conversion, if it will succeed.

I don't know if the program you have in mind would work, but MathType  
is, of all I know, the closest to TeX.


On  29 Jun, 2007, at 19:51, Wendy McKay wrote:
> MathSetter brings high quality TeX mathematical typesetting  
> capabilities to QuarkXPress.

Indeed ---we have used it. MathSetter uses a TeX engine for formulas;  
literally TeX ---you have to type {1 \over 2}, not \frac{1}{2}.  
Unfortunately, MathSetter works only with Quark 3 or 4. Hard to find  
now.


> Does anyone have any experience in this sort of thing? What if I
> produce a PostScript version of the book; if that is loaded into
> InDesign, does it become editable?

As Alan Litchfield said,

> You can import ps and pdf into InDesign without any issues but they  
> will not be editable.


> (I don't understand why the typesetter can't just do the pages as
> PDF's, but I am an ignoramus about this stuff.)

Again, as Alan said, ``because they are ignorant''. Whether the book  
is typeset in LaTeX, Quark or InDesign, the printing shop will ask  
for PDFs to impose, rasterize, and make the plates for printing --- 
they don't care which applications was used; they only care that *all  
font are embedded*.

I suggest you to insist in formatting the book yourself following the  
publishing house norms.

Best,

Axel


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