Re: changing printers and formatting

Subject: Re: changing printers and formatting
From: "Bergen, Jane" <janeb -at- ANSWERSOFT -dot- COM>
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 08:59:40 -0500

On Thursday, August 28, 1997 6:45 PM, Harrison Brace
[SMTP:hbrace -at- AIMQUEST -dot- COM] wrote:
> This is sort of silly, but...
>
> Just had a nasty encounter with my new boss. I had mentioned that the
> format of a document will not be the same from printer to printer. He
sorta
> exploded and responded that I don't know what I'm talking about. Any
good
> source to back this up? Apparently my entirely credibility is on the
line.
>
> Thanks
> Harrison Brace
> Hbrace -at- aimquest -dot- com

Not silly at all. And your boss is wrong. Try printing a fairly long
document with a few graphics and some fairly complex formatting...print
first on a postscript printer then to a ...say....HP LaserJet IIP. He'll
see for himself. It also can happen with postscript to postscript.
Recently we upgraded from one postscript printer (HP 4siMX) to another
(HP 5siMX) and had to re-tweak a 500 page manual. It was full of code
samples that had to be printed in a very exact way. Some pages had lines
pop to the next page.

Another approach might be to call some service bureaus and ask them. The
service bureaus are the printers who work a lot with printing documents
from disk copies. And I don't know where you're located, but if you have
some large Barnes & Nobles or Borders bookstores, take a look there.
I've seen some books on printing/printers that might be helpful.

The problem is not so much in the printer (in other words the hardware)
as it is in the printer driver (the software). Postscript drivers
interpret the page much differently than non-postscript drivers.

Hope this helps. Good luck,

Jane Bergen
Jane Bergen, Technical Writer,
AnswerSoft, Inc. Richardson, TX
janeb -at- answersoft -dot- com

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