[Desktop_printing] PDF/X + PDF/A (was: "Common statements from the

[Andreas Vox]

Kurt Pfeifle wrote:

> Short newbie summary of the main characteristics:
> -------------------------------------------------
> PDF/X3 prohibits a lot of things in newer versions of PDF that are not
> appropriate for graphic arts and that can cause problems when printing
> the files (no embedded movies and sounds, no encryption to name a few
> striking examples).
>
> PDF/A requires *all* resources used in a document to be truly and fully
> embedded (f.e. no usage of an external font server) so that there is a
> good chance of a document's long term viability.
>
> Both are derived from PDF-1.3 (AFAIK no PDF-1.4 elements are allowed).

That's exactly why I am against at narrowing on one of the PDF-X or 
PDF/A standards.
One of the more important PDF-1.4 features is f.ex. transparency.

My proposal:

-	RIPs and PDF consuming apps should fully support at least PDF 1.4 and 
try to provide
	reasonable fallbacks for post PDF 1.4 features (f.ex. ignore).
	The PDF 1.5 extensions for JPEG2000, 16bit images and stream objects 
should be
	strongly recommended.

-	Scribus and other PDF producing apps should be able to produce at 
least one of the
	standards PDF/A, PDF/X-3, PDF/X-2 or PDF/X-1 (in addition to any other 
PDF variants)

This should allow for safe document exchange and printing while still 
enabling high end graphics.

/Andreas