TEX, and the `typewriter syndrome'

If you are an editor or a publisher, you will have met authors who say that they much prefer TEX over LaTeX. They try to convince you that they can do much more with it than can be done with LaTeX. What they mean is, that they have more direct control of what the printed output looks like, and hence, over the typography of their product. We should realize that authors who say they use TEX, in fact use the `plain' macro package. Some 90% of these authors use `plain' TEX as a sophisticated typewriter. For instance, when they start a new section, they tell TEX to leave some white space between the preceding text and the new section heading, switch to a different font, type the heading, leave some white space again, switch back to the font for the running text, and continue to type the next paragraph.

This is all fine when an author types a manuscript for his own purposes, or one that will be typeset again by a professional typesetter. Of course, a publisher could provide a set of instructions which tell the author how everything should be formatted, just like the instructions that are provided for `camera ready' papers. But publishers know how well authors keep to these instructions, and many authors have nightmares about camera ready manuscripts, which cost them blood, sweat, tears, and far too much time to prepare.

Furthermore, TEX is not intended to be used in this way. When `plain' TEX is used as a typewriter, not even 5% of its potential capabilities are challenged. The design of TEX allows it to be adapted to the structural and typographical demands of the publications of many, different branches of science, by means of the `macro' concept. For very specialized branches, special macro packages can be developed (and are developed, such as the MSTEX package of the American Mathematical Society). Other branches, like astronomy, could do with a `general purpose' package, such as LaTeX.

Authors will have to adapt to the concept of Generalized Mark-up, and be cured from the `typewriter syndrome'. Only through generalized mark-up, the principle of directly publishing the manuscript provided by the author will work. And the benefits will be great: it allows the author to fully concentrate on the writing of the manuscript, without worries about the layout; it leaves the publisher in full control of the typographical appearance of his publications; and the time between submission and publication can be reduced considerably.