[scribus-dev] Fwd: Great meeting you in Saarbrücken

[ale rimoldi]

hi tamir

as i've suggested at the lgm, i'd like to see a comparison of your plans
with the features of the IDML file format.

i've quickly went through the copyright notice and the introduction of

http://wwwimages.adobe.com/content/dam/acom/en/devnet/indesign/sdk/cs6/idml/idml-specification.pdf

and while its not clear to me, if it's permitted to use this document to
create a software for the interchange with other applications,
which are not part of the adobe world.

on the one side, adobe clearly states that idml
has been created for the interchange inside of the adobe world.

but on page 15, it mentions the usage as a compatibility layer with
other file formats... so we can think that adobe does not completely
exclude the usage with other programs. (quark express and scribus both
provide importers for IDML, so they are not "forbidding" the usage by
other developers)

personally, i'm not that hot about extending the pdf file format
storing the information making them editable, but i'm not against having
a new format (or an existing one...) that can be embedded in a pdf
document (or used in an independent way.

pdf is a wonderful format for the print workflow, but it's not as good
in the screen oriented world...
currently, if i have to think about creating a new file format, i would
want it to at least have an excellent support of the rendering on
screen.

having an (existing or new) independent file format that can be
optionally embedded in epub or pdf files might lead to a usable
solution...

finally, i don't think it would be a bad idea to build upon a file
format that has been created for layout interchange and is already
supported by at least three of the relevant layout programs...

but since the best candidate is owned by adobe, we would have to ask
them what they think about such plans...

ciao
a.l.e