Postscript

From Nikonians Wiki

Postscript is a printer control language designed by Adobe, and part of the original Apple Macintosh - Aldus Pagemaker - Adobe Postscript combination which began the Desktop publishing revolution in the 1980s.

Postscript is the architecture behind PDF files.

Its formats are:

• .PS - postscript print files destined for a postscript printer. Generally unused today
• .EPS - encapsulated postscript, a format which is primarily vector based but can also incorporate an image. Vector EPS files can be endlessly scaled without loss of quality, and placed in other applications. EPS is the standard format for logos
• .PDF - Portable Document Format, an extended postscript specification which can be read by Adobe Acrobat, Apple's Preview, and by a number of other applications, such as web-browsers when equipped with the relevant plugin or extension

Apple Macintoshes using OS X can freely convert between the three file types, and can generate PDF files directly. Windows computers generally require a separate printer extension, or Adobe's Acrobat Professional, to create PDF files.

• This page was last modified on 28 December 2008, at 14:55.
• This page has been accessed 1,574 times.