General
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| Q: | Why do I
need Publicon? |
| | If you are a technical author writing for
publication, industry, or school, you know how time-consuming it can
be to properly format your work. Publicon is built around a guided,
template-driven document creation system that allows you to create
elegant, structured technical documents without having to learn any
code or use bulky tools. |
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| Q: | How do I get my Publicon
password? |
| | Your password is included in
your Publicon product confirmation email, sent to you automatically at the time of your purchase. |
| | |
| Q: | Isn't Publicon pretty much the same as
Mathematica's notebook front end? |
| | While Publicon shares many of
Mathematica's features, it also enhances the document
composition process with many features that are not part
of Mathematica's standard interface. |
| | |
| Q: | Why isn't Publicon part of
Mathematica? |
| | Publicon was developed as a stand-alone
product to allow for complete freedom in applying any
interface changes necessary to optimize the document composition
experience, above and beyond the requirements of a research tool such
as Mathematica. |
| | |
| Q: | How is Publicon useful in the biosciences and
chemistry? |
| | Publicon's typesetting system lets you
enter reaction equations and molecular formulas inline in text without
ever leaving the keyboard, or from simple point-and-click templates in
the master typesetting palette. Wolfram Research has also partnered
with BioMed Central to include a built-in formatting module for
composing articles in BioMed Central's submission format,
which exports to and imports from their custom XML
specification. |
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| Q: | How does Publicon integrate into electronic
document and records management (EDRM) systems? |
| |
Publicon documents are stored in ASCII format, allowing them to
be processed and time-stamped by EDRM systems the same as any other
plain text files. For extra security, using the same technology
as Mathematica, Publicon offers export to an encoded
ASCII format encrypted into a single data stream that is not
human-readable. |
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Features
|
| Q: | Can I do calculations with Publicon? |
| | Publicon is purely a compositional tool, intended to work side by side with technical programs like Mathematica or other
Wolfram Research products such as CalculationCenter or Mathematica Teacher's
Edition. The mathematical typesetting from a Publicon document can, however, be copied and pasted for computation in Mathematica, and Mathematica work can be pasted
into Publicon. |
| | |
| Q: | Can mathematical notation be searched within a
Publicon document? |
| | Yes, all special characters, operators,
bracketing characters, and other technical notation are fully
searchable. Searching is based on Wolfram Research's linear syntax,
which is exposed any time an equation or formula is copied for pasting
in another application. |
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| Q: | How are HTML files exported by Publicon viewed
in web browsers? |
| | Files that include MathML are exported as
XHTML, then served online from the same directory containing the
associated files produced during the export process. These
are resources and linked files saved in HTMLFiles and HTMLLinks
directories saved in the same location as the exported XHTML
file. XHTML files are saved with the .xml extension and can only be
displayed by XML- and MathML-enabled browsers such as Mozilla/Netscape,
Amaya, and Internet Explorer with the MathPlayer plug-in. Files
exported as regular HTML can be displayed in any browser, but also
require the same HTMLFiles/HTMLLinks resource directories. |
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| Q: | Can Publicon documents be served and displayed
on the web? |
| | Publicon documents saved in XML--indeed,
any XML files--can be opened directly into Publicon from any
location on the web. Publicon can also be configured as a
helper application for opening notebook files served by any
website. |
| | |
| Q: | Does Publicon support footnotes? |
| | Notes are formatted as hypertext that opens a
dialog for reading and editing the note directly in place, and are
collected as endnotes. Footnotes are not supported because
of Publicon's scrolling text paradigm, but notes are exported
as footnotes in those formats that support them, such as
LaTeX. |
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| Q: | Does Publicon support multi-column layout? |
| |
Publicon documents are oriented toward a vertical scrolling
paradigm much like HTML, rather than a page-by-page configuration
found in page-layout programs. Multiple columns can be configured in
tables, but not maintained as flows. Publicon's focus is on
document structure, allowing clean translation to LaTeX or XML for
submission to publishers. Publishers can then use page-layout tools
that exploit their own particular formats to generate single- or
double-column layouts to their own specifications.
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Compatibility
|
| Q: | Can I get my work from Mathematica into
Publicon? |
| | Publicon documents share
Mathematica's notebook format, so Mathematica notebooks
can be opened in Publicon. However, Publicon's
sophisticated formatting tools and templates typically require that
content be converted to Publicon's custom structure. To
get Publicon's full formatting benefits, simply copy and paste
to integrate your Mathematica content into any Publicon
document. |
| | |
| Q: | Can I export documents to LaTeX formats
that Publicon does not yet support? |
| | Yes. For target templates not too different from the included ones, customization simply involves changing some macro names in the conversion rules in a Publicon style sheet. Packages and classes required by the LaTeX file are entered in the style sheet as well. Templates that are significantly different from any existing examples may also require some customization of the palettes used for driving composition. This type of palette/interface customization is not much different from editing a Publicon
document. |
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| Q: | Does Publicon support TeX import? |
| | Mathematical notation can be typed or
pasted as TeX syntax and converted into Publicon's custom
format. Conversion of LaTeX files is a feature slated for a
future version of Publicon. |
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| Q: | How is mathematical notation exported from
Publicon for use by other programs? |
| | Publicon exports entire documents
including math to various LaTeX formats, XML, XHTML with MathML, or
HTML with math converted to graphics. |
| | |
| Q: | Does Publicon integrate with Microsoft
Word? |
| | Publicon is a self-contained application
and requires no extra plug-ins, nor does it function as a plug-in for other
programs. Publicon documents can be exported to HTML for
Microsoft Word users, with math converted to Metafile or EPS for
resolution-independent viewing. |
| | |
| Q: | Does Publicon support OLE (COM)
objects? |
| | OLE (Object Linking and Embedding), part of
Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM), is supported on Windows
versions of Publicon for objects inserted from other
applications. |
| | |
| Q: | Which file formats can Publicon import? |
| | Publicon can import the following formats:
BMP, GIF, JPEG, MGF (Mathematica bitmap format), PBM, PGM, PNG,
PNM, PPM, DXF, STL, WMF (Metafile on Windows), PICT (On OS X), MPS
(Mathematica PostScript), EPS (with preview images when first
converted to MPS), AIFF, AU, SND, WAV, and CSV (as tables).
|
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| Q: | Which reference data formats are supported by
Publicon? |
| | Publicon imports BibTeX, Reference
Manager, general EndNote full tag format, BioMed Central's custom
EndNote format, and PubMed Central's Entrez XML. References prepared
by any reference management tool can also be pasted
into Publicon as a formatted bibliography, or inserted
individually into Publicon's own reference management system
without actually being imported as part of a reference
database. |
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| Q: | Does Publicon export to PDF? |
| | Publicon documents can be converted to PDF using the conversion portal available on the webMathematica demo page. They can also be printed to PDF with systems and printer drivers that support the PDF format. |
| | |
| Q: | To what extent are non-English languages
supported? |
| | Publicon 1.0 supports special
characters for all major European languages. It is somewhat
restricted to these languages, primarily by some of the dialog
boxes/wizards. Double-byte characters (e.g. Shift-JIS) can be
entered into Publicon documents, and are supported by the
reference tools. Publicon's first service release (Version
1.0.1) will improve support for these characters in other areas. Complete
localization of Publicon for Japanese users is being considered
for a future version.
|
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| Q: | For what platforms is Publicon available? |
| | Publicon is available for Windows
98/Me/NT/2000/XP and Mac OS X. A Linux version is being tested and
will be released as part of Version 1.1. |
