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From: casseres@apple.com (David Casseres)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,sci.space
Subject: Re: Printing On a LaserWriter -- hints
Message-ID: <4041@internal.Apple.COM>
Date: 6 Sep 89 18:02:52 GMT
Sender: usenet@Apple.COM
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.
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References:<20982.24F8D5E1@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG> <697@anagld.UUCP> <123914@sun.Eng.Sun.COM>

Just thought I'd clarify something here.  Laura Lemay's hints are correct 
but the reasons she gives aren't exactly right.  Two kinds of reformatting 
can happen when you print on a LaserWriter.  There is gross reformatting 
where line breaks and page breaks are not in the same places as they were 
on the screen; let's call this "document reformatting."  Then there is 
subtle reformatting where the spacing of characters and words _within a 
line_ is different; call this "line layout adjustment."

Document reformatting happens when you create your document with one type 
of printer chosen and print it with another type of printer.  It has 
nothing to do with fonts or Postscript; rather, it is caused by different 
dimensions of the printable area of the page for each printer.  The 
application gets these dimensions from the driver software and places line 
and page breaks accordingly; if the type of printer changes, the 
application has to change these line and page breaks.

Line layout adjustment happens whenever the printing resolution is not 72 
dots/inch.  When this is the case a different font must be used (either 
Postscript or bitmap) and the character widths are not exactly in the same 
proportions as the ones on the screen.  The driver makes adjustments in 
the spacing between words and between characters within each line so as to 
make both ends of the line come out in the right places.  Generally the 
adjustments are small and it takes a trained eye to see them (especially 
the character-spacing adjustments within words).

If you use Adobe's screen fonts for Times and Helvetica, instead of 
Apple's, the amount of line layout adjustment is minimized because the 
character widths are more nearly in proportion to the ones in the 
Postscript fonts.  But watch out!  If you have a document that was created 
and formatted with Apple's screen fonts and you switch to the Adobe screen 
fonts, the document will get reformatted just as if you changed it to a 
different font altogether.

Finally, a word on automatic font substitution.  If you use Geneva on the 
screen (Apple's default), it will be printed with Helvetica on a 
Postscript printer.  Likewise New York is converted to Times and Monaco to 
Courier.  In these cases the character widths match very poorly indeed and 
the result is an ugly-looking document.  It's too bad because Geneva, New 
York, and Monaco are more readable _on the screen_ than Times, Monaco, and 
Courier, which are more readable on paper at 300 dpi.  A classic example 
of the problem of converting from one medium to another, and a real thorn 
in the side of WYSIWYG.

David Casseres

Exclaimer:  Hey!