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From: ksbolduan@amherst.bitnet
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Fractional Widths, ATM, & Word: HELP! (Repost)
Message-ID: <9396.26211b42@amherst.bitnet>
Date: 9 Apr 90 23:31:14 GMT
References: <9292.260ffb37@amherst.bitnet> <9324.26189c9d@amherst.bitnet> <11054@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>
Lines: 33

In article <11054@bsu-cs.bsu.edu>, mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Michael Thomas Niehaus) writes:
> I don't believe that Word uses fractional character widths, but don't
> hold me to it (I prefer MacWrite II myself)...

After some e-mail and exploring, I figured out what's going on with Fractional
Widths, at least Word 4.0. Fractional Widths is a feature in Word that,
**__if you're printing to the Laserwriter__** can make the output look a little
nicer-especially when you're using ATM. Especially at large point sizes, ATM
kinda screws the kerning all up, and your te xt lo oksl ike thi s. So, if you
turn on Fractional Widths (in the Laserwriter Page Setup) things look a lot
nicer. However, the Imagewriter doesn't support this feature. If all you're
interested in is screen display, choose the Laserwriter and turn FW on. It
makes things look a lot nicer. But, when it comes to printing, there's nothing
ATM can do to make things look nice on your Imagewriter. (as far as kerning
goes, anyway...)

Now the question: Doesn't the Imagewriter basically _dump_ what's on the screen
to the printer (same resolution and all...) ?? If so, why doesn't the
Imagewriter driver have the FW option? Could it be added? The Laserprinter
itself is not necessary to make things look nice on the screen. So, why can't
the Imagewriter handle it? It seems that if you could somehow _fool_ word into
using the Laserwriter Page Setup, but _then print to the Imagewriter_
everything would work out just fine. Is this possible? Any printer gurus out
there who would know how to fool the Mac so?

Kevin Bolduan '91 Amherst College
KSBOLDUAN@AMHERST

P.S. If you're using something _other_ than Word (which has the FW option in
the Laserwrite page setup window) then you can get the AlwaysFract init from
Sumex. While I've not really tested it, it supposedly turns on FW for those
programs that don't have the option. But again, only for screen and Laserwriter
output.