In ML's good old days (circa 1985), articles arrived on paper and were retyped on an Altos computer. The computer text was then coded for use by a typesetting machine. Each column was printed out in strips and manually pasted onto cardboard. Each strip had to be carefully aligned with the previous one. These boards were then sent off to the printer.
While ML is still two or three years behind what some magazines can do with production, things have changed. Today, most ML pages are sent to the printer on camera-ready laser-printed pages and one or two are sent electronically on a 3.5 inch diskette. In a couple of years, all of ML will be sent electronically. ML is now produced on 486 PCs while in a couple of years it will most likely upgrade to Pentium model computers. Almost all articles sent to ML are submitted on diskette. However, a few -- such as Where to Find Liturgical Information Online (page 12) -- are submitted by e-mail. The e-mail trend will grow. And many magazines can be found both in your mailbox and on your computer through the World Wide Web. Currently, a small portion of ML can be found on the Web. More will find its way there as ML's in-house expertise with Web technology grows. This month, for the first time, the Web site goes beyond the magazine. ML's interview with Angela Ann Zukowski (page 8) is too long to be printed in its entirety. However, cyber-readers can find the complete interview on the ML homepage (http://www.rpinet.com/ml/ml.html).
I do know some of you think of computers only as overpriced doorstops. So in this annual software issue, ML has provided some soft wear as well. Not only can you get some tips on buying new vestments (page 4), you can also drift back to the days when computers were only the stuff of science fiction and pull out your antique vestments. In an accompanying pictorial, you can read about a company that takes your beautiful treasures and updates them for contemporary use.
A permanent Musical Liturgy author has been found but has not yet reported for duty. Filling in for the next couple of issues is M. D. Ridge, a musician and composer from Norfolk, VA (page 22). My heartfelt thanks to Peggy Lovrien who has been pinch hitting in that space the last couple of issues.