More on Windows printing...

[Richard Gaskin]

Lynch, Jonathan wrote:
> For my current project - it is not that important.
> 
> For the idea I have for a future project, it would be important. It
> involves a complex sort of internet publishing of a multimedia form of
> daily/weekly/monthly magazines.

FWIW, one of the largest Internet publishing projects on the planet is 
AOL, and with Rev you can build a system that's faster and more 
attractive in less time than it takes them to have a meeting about it.

In a broad sense, the design possibilities for such a project could be 
characterized as AOL vs. PDF.  The former is 'Net-delivered interactive 
software that has some printing capabilities, and the latter being 
print-focused software that has some interactive capabilities.

If a print focus is preferable for your project, you may find it hard to 
beat Acrobat for that.  It's a fine tool for what it does, and there's 
narry a system out there that doesn't have Acrobat Reader installed.

But if a true software experience is desirable, you really can outdo the 
AOL experience in an afternoon with Rev.

While not precisely what you're looking for, you may find RevNet worth a 
moment's look to tickle the imagination (in Rev see 
Development->Plugins->GoRevNet).

Another project I can't say enough good things about is Christopher 
Condit's Dynamic Digital Maps: <http://ddm.geo.umass.edu/>.  I honestly 
think all Rev developers owe it to themselves to take a minute to enjoy 
this wonderful app -- a fine example of 'Net-delivered multimedia.


> It would only be important in the sense
> that it would be nice for the reader to be able to print out the product
> without having any words clipped.

If that's the only concern I'll bet we can solve it.  Have you adjusted 
the rightMargin of the field you're printing?  If the right side is 
being clipped you may find being a little generous with the rightMargin 
will correct it.


> As to the question, would it be worth the trouble - I think so. Not just
> because it would benefit that project, but because it would be really
> nice for all Rev users to have available a "PrintforWindows" function
> that works perfectly that they could use without having to modify it
> greatly.

When it comes to the finer points of displaying text (kerning, font 
metrics, etc.) there will always be some differences between screen and 
print, less so on Mac than Win but pretty much everywhere.  It's the 
nature of the beast, translating from one cordinate system and rendering 
architecture to another.

It's possible to minimize these differences beyond noticeability, and 
there are specialized catagories of software that do just that (page 
layout and some word processing tools).

But they are indeed specialized catagories, with as much code going into 
solving that problem as most apps spend on their UI.  It may be possible 
for Rev to one day also provide the same level of control for 
finely-tuned font metrics, but for myself I'd rather it be an external 
so I wouldn't need to add so much to my apps, most (all?) of which would 
likely never need it.

> If my choice is between having imperfect printing with Rev, or perfect
> printing with something else - Rev will definitely be the way to go for
> me.

Once you get the clipping issue resolved I think you'll be very happy 
with that decision.

--
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  __________________________________________________
  Rev tools and more: http://www.fourthworld.com/rev