Amazing how technology has improved really......back in 1985 I was part of a team which put together an 800 page sales catalogue. At the time others heralded it as the "first computer typeset book which integrated graphics and text"..."the way forward in technology"
When I think how we did it, I shudder.
The database of products and prices was pulled from a Cromemco Unix system.
Graphics were done by using a primitive chemical 2-D line-drawing program, on an early PC with no hard drive
Descriptive text was input onto an Apple Mac II, on which text / graphics integration also took place
We were lucky in having an extremely accurate typist, so that proof reading found few errors. But even so, it was incredibly difficult, and to this day I'm amazed we made it work. This was in the early days of personal computers , where no thought had been given to cross-platform compatibility. It still amazes me that - at that stage - it was possible to pull the three computer system together to produce a coherent whole. Its a shame the chap who was the brains behind ti never got the recognition he deserved