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Re: RSI / CreaSo survey: Whish list



In article <4ahq1c$hna@rs18.hrz.th-darmstadt.de> hahn@hrz.th-darmstadt.de (Norbert Hahn) writes:
>kspencer@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Kevin Spencer) wrote:
>
>Well, that depends on how you interpret WYSIWYG:
>I second this idea when the display shows faithfully
>what you get printed. However, the format of the
>display 1024x768 pixels  should be read 1024/768 = 4/3
>while the printed paper is 11x8.5 inch (  11/8.5 = 1.29 ) in the U.S.

If you include a half inch margin on every edge (not unreasonable)
your US paper becomes 10/7.5 which is 4/3!


>a) Setup your plot for the final result (paper) and view
>   intermediate results on your screen in the same ratio.
>   I would call this WYSIWYG.
>
>b) Setup your plot for the screen and leave some unused
>   parts on the paper. WYSIWYG too.

Either of these would be acceptable.

>c) Have intelligent setups for all output devices and IDL
>   care for correct results. Difficult to achieve! Although this is
>   what IDL currently TRIES (emphasis added) to do.

This is not WYSIWYG, however.  Unless you mean that IDL knows the paper
in the printer will be A4 and gives a graphics window with an appropriate
aspect ratio "automatically".

The important thing to note here is that for a WYSIWYG to work IDL must
know something about the printer (I'll argue that it currently knows
nothing about the printer other than emulation) or IDL must impose
standards (like aspect ratio) adhered to by both the Video display and
printer "emulation" software.  As is always the case, there are limitations
(particularly in the case of fonts) where some (video/windowing) hard/soft-
ware will not allow for all of the capabilities found in printers (such as
arbitraty rotation of hardware fonts).  WYSIWYG works well on Apples/Macs
since THE vendor controlled both the hardware (video and printers) as well
as the software - a definite advantage if not a requirement.

WYSIWYGs are difficult to implement and we are asking for a lot of work
here, but that does not decrease my desire for this "feature" to appear
in a future release.

-- 
 Dr. Joseph M. Zawodny       KO4LW              NASA Langley Research Center
 E-mail: J.M.Zawodny@LaRC.NASA.gov              MS-475, Hampton VA, 23681-0001