Editing and producing a PDF document isn’t something I had done before and I must say I enjoyed the challenge. I first converted the file from PDF into ePub format using Calibre ebook management software. In Calibre I split the document into image files, a CSS file and a html file. I began replacing the catalan text in the html file with my english translation but when I saved and refreshed the document there appeared to be a disconnect between the html file and the cascading stylesheet. Restricted by time constraints I decided to abandon Calibre and this approach.
Instead I opened the PDF in Gimp, a free Adobe Photoshop alternative. The idea was to place text boxes over the original text but again the learning curve was too steep for the amount of time I had to complete the task.
Finally I opened Keynote, the Apple version of PowerPoint. This allowed me to do exactly what I wanted. I screencapped each page of the source document and added the as the background for a slide each in Keynote. This allowed me to overlay text boxes as if I was making a normal presentation. Once I had the translated text placed over the original content I then exported the file as a PDF.
I’d definitely use this method when doing similar projects in the future but with one change. Instead of saving the screen captures as JPEG files I’ll instead use the TIFF format to negate any loss in quality from the original document. There is a slightly noticeable difference in quality, especially in the photos and other graphics caused by compression when saving as JPEG files. Other than that, practice makes perfect and thanks to my discoveries during this project, the process should prove a lot smoother the next time around.
The current draft of the translated leaflet can be found here
