Printer test, following failure of default value of TastingNotesColumnStrokeCode

[jdaw1]

Summary

Please:

• Print  A4 = 297mm×210mm  or  USL = 11″×8½″  at 100%;
• Hand-write make and model of printer in margin;
• Post to me.

 

Detail

On the tasting-note pages there are vertical lines, to gently separate the zones specified by

/TastingNotesColumnHeadings [  (Times)  (Eye)  (Nose)  (Mouth)  (Score)  ] def

The lines are meant to be very faint, so that those who don’t like this separation can blithely overwrite them. The faintness comes from

/TastingNotesColumnStrokeCode {0 setgray  0.06 setlinewidth  …  [2.4 16.8] 0 setdash  stroke} def

At a recent tasting this failed miserably. It printed as 1pt no-dash solid black, which was far too heavy, far too visually dominant.

Yes, this was a failure of the printer, which ignored the dashing and printed much thicker than specified. But it was therefore also a failure of the default value of TastingNotesColumnStrokeCode to cope with that printer.

The default formatting should work on all printers. Hence many printers need to be tested. A printable test has been created, and readers are asked to help. Please:

• Print a test page, either A4 = 297mm×210mm, or USL = 11″×8½″. Ensure that the scaling is 100%: some systems have a default scaling of 96%.

• In the margin hand-write the make and model of printer, optionally adding your name.

• Then post = mail the paper printout to me. (If you don’t have my address then ask, ideally by ThePortForum PM.)

 

PostScript source for test pages: jdawiseman.com/2021/20210910_stroke_test.ps. (But please print at 100% from PDF, either A4  or  11″×8½″.)

Links to here from ThePortForum and FTLoP.

[jdaw1]

This post will be edited as data arrives.

For dash=[2.4 16.8], and the various possible grays, the tables shows the range of good widths, as judged subjectively by the eye of JDAW.

Gray=	0.96875	0.9375	0.875	0.75	0.6	0.5	0.4	0
HP M254nw JDAW	None	1.92– 2.88	1.44– 1.92	0.48– 1.44	0.48– 0.72	0.24– 0.48	0.12– 0.48	0– 0.24
Dell E525w Color Laser EricM	None	2.88	0.72 – 1.44	0.48– 0.96	0.48– 0.72	0.24– 0.48	0.24	0– 0.12
Intersection		2.88	1.44	0.48– 0.96	0.48– 0.72	0.24– 0.48	0.24	0– 0.12

[jdaw1]

From FTLoP:

printer driver and OS might also be important

Hopefully testing a variety of printers from a variety of computers will also test a variety of drivers. But asking people to find the hidden technical details might have lessened their willingness to help.

[phwakely]

Note: to anyone else who reads the above, wants to help, but only sees Julian's link to the postscript file at the bottom, the links to the PDF file to be printed are at the top where he specifies the page format/size (since I spent 10mins trying to work out how to print the .ps directly from within Windows 10, which is tricky these days!).

Links to PDFs:

A4 = 297mm×210mm  or  USL = 11″×8½″  at 100%