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Re: pages


In message <c=US%a=_%p=Montgomery%l=NY-PB-EXCH-1-970602164950Z-741@sf-exch-2.mo
ntgomery.com>, 
Erik Aronesty writes:
>Still, there's basically no way to produce attractive, printable reports
>on the Web.
>
>Any document worth reading on a browser is worth printing.
>
>The only serious problem with the printablility of reports is the
>concept of paging.
>
>With pages, there is no need to know about paper size/margins or
>fonts...because it
>then becomes possible for a browser to intelligently attempt to "fit
>each page". 

Well, there is a real tension here, but the problem is far hatder than that.  I 
very much _don't_ want my browser resizing  things to fit on a page.  I want 
them sized so I can read them.

What most people seem to mean by "attractive reports" includes a lot of control 
over layout.  Many people's hard work turn into illegible grabage when I look 
at it because by enlarged fonts break their assumptions about how much space 
their text requires, leaving all their layout regions on top of each other.

If you really want control over what your stuff looks like, you want PDF (or 
something like it), not HTML.  But you also don't want a lot of people to (be 
able to) read it.

--------
Sarr Blumson                     sarr@umich.edu
voice: +1 313 764 0253           FAX: +1 313 763 8937
ITD, University of Michigan      http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sarr/
535 W William, Ann Arbor, MI 48103-4943
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