Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 20:04:51 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: "Barry L. Newton" <bnewton at ashcomp.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Interaction newsletters
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

Most Remarkably, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
>I notice several differences, despite the claims that PDFs perfectly
>capture the appearance of a document.

A couple of things that might account for that:

The newsletter staff was split into (I think) four distinct groups,
corresponding to shifts.  They put out newsletters on different colors of
paper to identify which group put out which edition.

Original copies of the newsletter were printed out oversized on white
paper, and posted on the cloth partition sides of the newsletter "office"
for the benefit of the visually impaired.  These were then reduced (not
sure of technology used) and printed on colored paper for the rest of the
convention.

Most people producing PDF documents don't use the option which sends all of
the original fonts along with the document--which is the only way to
guarantee consistent results.  Consequently, Acrobat does the best it can
with the fonts available to it on whatever computer is being used to
view/print a given document.

Re the pictures:  the large format ones were printed in full color on white
paper, as mentioned above.  The standard editions were printed in black and
white via a Gestetner machine, not a great combination for high quality.

Barry