Re: [docbook-apps] InDesign typography advantage [Was: Re: [docbook-apps]DocBook and =?UTF-8?Q?=09InDesign=5D?=

[maxwell <maxwell@umiacs.umd.edu>]

Jirka Kosek <jirka@kosek.cz> wrote:
> TeX as well FO work in batch mode -- you can't interactively fiddle with
> details like line and page breaks and object placement and instantly see
> changes on-screen. This necessary especially for document with "more
> artistic" design.

There are LaTeX editors that allow you to do this via a two-pane editor,
with the LaTeX editor in one pane and a PDF view in the other. LEd is an
example:
   http://www.latexeditor.org
I've never used such an editor, so I can't vouch for whether it is
"instant."  Perhaps one could create such a DocBook editor.  (XMLmind
allows you to work in a partially wysiwyg environment, although they're
quick to point out that it's very partial; and it certainly doesn't allow
low-level fiddling.)

> Also I'm not sure whether pdfTeX implementation of hz-algorithm and
> hanging punctuation is on a par with one available in InDesign.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hz-program
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_punctuation

XeTeX (a Unicode-enabled version of LaTeX) has an experimental
implementation of "character protrusion" or "margin kerning" (new in the
last few months).  Not being a typographer (I almost wrote "typologist", an
area that I do claim to know a little about!), I'm not sure how much that
answers your question.

Perhaps more relevant, there is a discussion thread here:
   http://scripts.sil.org/xetex
about the relative uses and merits of Xe(La)TeX and InDesign.  Some of the
points would also pertain to DocBook in general.

   Mike Maxwell