From koffice-devel Sun Jul 21 20:22:50 2002 From: Vadim Plessky Date: Sun, 21 Jul 2002 20:22:50 +0000 To: koffice-devel Subject: Re: WYSIWYG and a common document file format X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=koffice-devel&m=102736297112982 On Thursday 18 July 2002 9:16 pm, Seth Kurtzberg wrote: | Technically, it is certainly possible. What I was saying is that, as a | practical matter, if the big vendors don't even bother to do it correctly | for different incarnations of their own programs, how likely is it that | they will conform to a specification? I think Microsoft is not going to conform to such specification. Specification would be limited to KOffice, OpenOffices, other office apps... As about WYSIWYG - trick is to make computtaions (glyph widths, word widths, word positioning, etc.) at resolution of most precise device. Modern laser alyout systems have about 4000dpi. For printing on paper - 2400dpi is close to maximum. So, if you calculate all metrics for "virtual" 2400dpi typesetting device, and than re-layout text on screen (say, 96dpi) using those metrics, rescaled to that lower resolution - you will get very good results. And this is how KWord and KPresenter layout text, BTW. Now problems start. Such well-formatted, rich text looks ugly on screen. And the only way to fix this is to increase effective resolution of the screen. You can do this in a such way: a) increase real dpi (from current 100dpi-120 dpi to, say at least 200dpi, like IBM did in their experimental displays) b) use sub-pixel decimation XFree86 allows to do it - but only on LCD displays with digital (DVI) interfaces. Second solution is much cheaper (compare $16000 for IBM display with $500 for 15" LCD), and I think we should think of var. 2) as min.requirement for *real* WYSIWYG. For the rest of people (who do not have LCD) - current WYSIWYG in KWord is more than enough ;-) | | On Thursday 18 July 2002 05:47 am, Thomas Zander wrote: | > On Thursday 18 July 2002 11:07, Seth Kurtzberg wrote: | > > Martin, | > | > Hi Seth! | > | > > I can see why this would be desirable, but I'm not sure that it is | > > achievable. Not technically achievable, but logistically achievable. | > > Consider a few "facts of life" with currently available software: | > > | > > 1. The display (and also the printed format) change from version to | > > version, and, with our friends at Microsoft, from service pack to | > > service pack. | > | > What do you mean? If I want to print to an A4 today, I still want to do | > that in 5 years. | > I don't care HOW its displayed on screen, as long as it displays that my | > page stops at a certain sentence. It should also do this in all | > versions. I think there is no technical or logistical problem. Could you | > specify which problems you forsee? | > | > > 2. The displayed text is different among systems that have different | > > fonts installed. You would have to ensure that every machine has some | > > base set of fonts, and that different fonts never have the same name. | > | > This is a technical problem and can be overcome. If only by supplying | > the font in the file. | > | > > 3. The displayed text is sometimes different depending on the size | > > and resolution of the monitor. | > | > This sentence tells me that WYSIWYG is simply impossible. I think that | > is not quite true :) Luckily. Cheers, -- Vadim Plessky http://kde2.newmail.ru (English) 33 Window Decorations and 6 Widget Styles for KDE http://kde2.newmail.ru/kde_themes.html KDE mini-Themes http://kde2.newmail.ru/themes/ _______________________________________________ koffice-devel mailing list koffice-devel@mail.kde.org http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/koffice-devel