[Scribus] pdf problem

[Craig Ringer]

On Tue, 2005-07-12 at 21:26 +0200, PLinnell wrote:
> On Tuesday 12 July 2005 21:01, wayne wrote:
> > I create newspaper ads with scribus and send them in as pdf files.
> > Most of the time there is no problem but sometimes the ads don't
> > print out correctly. The fonts appear either scattered all over the
> > place or parts of the text are missing.
> >
> > The newspaper company claims that all of their software are up to
> > date and it's my fault. One paper suggested that I use postscript
> > fonts instead of true type fonts. My ads (the exact same one) print
> > properly in most of the company's newspapers but gets screwed up in
> > a couple of the papers. My question is how can I be sure that my
> > pdfs will print out properly in all of the company's newspapers?
> 
> You cannot if the are doing things like trying to import PDF into 
> Quark. (Some people work that way...)

If they're doing that, they need a sound beating about the head with a
cluestick. I suggest checking if they import your PDF direct into Quark,
and if so ask them to use Acrobat Pro 6 or 7 to convert the PDF to EPS,
then use the EPS.

While my experience with Quark's PDF handling is with Quark 4, I don't
expect it to have improved much. In Quark 4 it is very flakey - it
basically doesn't work for PDF 1.4, and sometimes mangles PDF 1.3 .
Worse, the mangled files look fine when sent out to Distiller and viewed
on some Acrobat versions and other PDF viewers, but not others. For
example, a file might look fine on Acrobat 5 / Mac, but broken on
Acrobat 7 / win32.

I've deleted the PDF plug-in from Quark on all the workstations at work
now. They import PDF by saving as EPS in Acrobat Pro. That's been very
reliable.

It would be helpful to have some information about the workflow at your
printer and at the papers you've worked with (especially if, as Peter
said, one had a problem with a file and the other did not).

Also, if you like, you could send me a couple of sample files that
you've had problems with and I'll see what happens when I run them
through our production process at work.

--
Craig Ringer