jrg@Apple.COM (John R. Galloway) (06/29/89)
First, I don't have my Mac system yet, so I am going on somewhat skimpy info here, but it is my understanding that the printer characteristics (primarily Vertical Vs. Horizontal printing) is just like MS Windows in that it is a parameter of the printer, not the document being printed. I find this (under MS windows, and soon under the Mac) to be very annoying. It seems obvious to me that this should be kept with the document not the printer. Once in a while I have experimented with printing the same item in both formats, but once I decide it remains fixed. Even if in some hard to imagine case you wnat to routinely chnage the setup for a particular doc, it wouldn't be any harder than it is now, and in the normal case it would be SOO much easier (print a doc, setup, print an envelope, setup, print...ahahaha) Or if that can not be arranged at least allow multiple virtual printers such that dragging an item to the vertical printer would automatically do a vertical setup and so on, even if it all comes out of the same device. Though again keepig this with the document/item being printed seems the best, if it could be put in at this point in time and be compatible. apple!jrg John R. Galloway, Jr. contract programmer, San Jose, Ca These are my views, NOT Apple's, I am a GUEST here, not an employee!!
casseres@apple.com (David Casseres) (06/30/89)
In article <32781@apple.Apple.COM> jrg@Apple.COM (John R. Galloway) writes: > First, I don't have my Mac system yet, so I am going on somewhat skimpy > info here, but it is my understanding that the printer characteristics > (primarily Vertical Vs. Horizontal printing) is just like MS Windows in > that it is a parameter of the printer, not the document being printed. > I find this (under MS windows, and soon under the Mac) to be very annoying. Boy, I would too! I didn't realize that MS Windows' imitation of Mac printing was so lame. On the Mac, the printing orientation is a characteristic of the document, and changes only when the user says so, or the application screws up (very, very rare), or the user switches to a different type of printer. That last case is our only gotcha; you can "switch" to a different printer type without realizing it, if you move the document to a different system. System 7.0 fixes this by making the printer type also a characteristic of the document. There's no reason for it to change until you actually print, and then you will at least know exactly what's happening. David Casseres Exclaimer: Zowie!
svc@well.UUCP (Leonard Rosenthol) (06/30/89)
In article <32781@apple.Apple.COM>, jrg@Apple.COM (John R. Galloway) writes: > First, I don't have my Mac system yet, so I am going on somewhat skimpy > info here, but it is my understanding that the printer characteristics > (primarily Vertical Vs. Horizontal printing) is just like MS Windows in > that it is a parameter of the printer, not the document being printed. > I find this (under MS windows, and soon under the Mac) to be very annoying. > It seems obvious to me that this should be kept with the document not the > printer. > [ more comments removed for brevity ] > Since document format is application specific, it is impossible to make a global statement such as the above. It is true that printer characteristics are stored in a data structure called the printer record which is 'owned' by the printer driver (and the calling application) BUT that does not in any way prohibit the application from saving the printer record off with the document and then restoring it later on. In fact Apple recommends that applications do this, and you will find many of them that do. Most/All page layout programs do this, and I am sure the same is true for many other types of products which rely on the page setup infor for formatting/page size, etc. Hope that puts some/all of your fears to rest about printing on the Macintosh. -- +--------------------------------------------------+ Leonard Rosenthol | GEnie : MACgician Lazerware, inc. | MacNet: MACgician UUCP: svc@well.UUCP | ALink : D0025