Double sided PDF Problem

[Paul McClernan]

> Why? On a LiveCode list you have to ask why? :)
It was more of a rhetorical question / suggestion... Output PDF of
1-Up card pages from LiveCode and then use imposition software or a
page layout app, link the layout to the LC PDF file and print, that's
the way it's done by printers. And most of these apps have some type
of scripting to automate workflows like that. Nowaday some online
printing outfits (like Avery) have sites where you can just drag-drop
pages into a web page-layout. I'm not sure if any of those have an API
that could be hooked into, but that's another idea.

> 1. Because we can.  It's fun to figure stuff out.
Sounds like work to me, because I've done a lot of that for work. I do
get a kick out of figuring stuff out. Decades ago I read a short book
called The PostScript Language Cookbook and got inspired to create
HyperCard Stack (using a bunch of XCMD/XFCNs from Dartmouth, Rindaldi,
etc.) that could generate raw postscript.ps files of Font-book
specimen pages and download them directly to a LaserPrinter,
completely bypassing print driver / print dialog boxes. After learning
more about Postscript and a various graphics formats like TIFF, I
worked up an almost complete Prepress-Preflight app in HC, but just
then a commercial product called FlightCheck came out and so I just
abandoned the idea.

> 2. Print-and-Play tabletop games. It's quite a burgeoning folk art to
> design and print your own game.  Doesn't have to be fancy, but sometimes
Not my bag but cool. I'm using my fun time I'm trying to Bring The
Noise to LC ;-)

> And I'm finding it's not that hard.  The hardest part is making a few
> test runs to work out the metrics between logical pixels and printer
> metrics.
In my limited examination of PDF output from LC (back in version 7 or
8, i think), it seems that some items, such as text are output as
resolution independent vectors graphics while other things are
rendered as pixel images at 288 DPI (4 x 72px), which should be
high-res enough for most people. A printer should take whatever you
send it and just interpolate to it's native resolution (300,1200,2400
DPI) and screening system.

But again, most home printers can't do edge-to-edge printing, and will
have printable areas / margins that are not centered on the
sheet-size, for example the top may have 1/4 inch non-printable area
due to the gripper, while the bottom may be only 1/8th inch
non-printable area, so you should consider that if you are designing a
layout that needs to line up with the other-side when the sheet needs
to flipped in that direction.

>That was a great size, but they still offer a business card size with
rounded corners
> https://www.avery.com/products/cards/88220
I'm a big fan of Avery. Used their scored/perf'd/label sheets many
times over the years.
Full Disclosure: I currently work for the company that owns that brand.