[comp.laser-printers] Word 5.0 PC text justification problem?

wales@CS.UCLA.EDU (Rich Wales) (12/07/89)

I have been having a problem with the proper handling of right-justified
paragraphs and right-flush-tabbed material in Microsoft Word 5.0 for the
PC and compatibles.  If anyone else has seen a similar problem, I would
like to hear from you -- especially if you have a fix for it.

(I've already talked with Microsoft; they weren't aware of the problem
and have asked me to send them a disk with the necessary input data so
they can play around with it.)

Most of the time, my results with right-justification and right-tabbing
are fine.  However, the text on some lines (seemingly random, but repro-
ducible from one run to the next) are not properly right-justified.
Usually these lines fall short (by up to 1/4") of the right margin;
occasionally they extend past the margin.

On most of the affected lines, there is uneven spacing between words.
It looks like some words have one space between them, while other words
have two spaces between them.  The printer I am using is capable of
microspace justification (and the PRD file is set up for it) -- and the
*properly* justified lines are microspace-justified as expected.

I also see this same uneven, quantum-leap spacing between words on most
"centered" lines as well -- and these lines are not really "centered".

When I examine the text with "Print preView", the lines in question look
fine on my screen (illegibly tiny, to be sure, but properly justified).

My printer is an HP LaserJet IIP.  Since my Word 5.0 did not have any
PRD files for this particular model, I am using a copy of HPLASER.PRD,
with the printer model set to "HP LaserJet IID", and with information
added for the proportionally spaced soft-fonts I am using.

This same problem also shows up under Word 5.0 with my older printer --
a Toshiba P321 (24-pin-head dot matrix).  So I am inclined to assume it
is probably *not* the fault of my printer description or my fonts.

Again, the majority of justified lines come out *perfectly*.  It is only
a handful of lines which do not -- but, of course, they're enough to
spoil the appearance of the output.  I have checked these lines, and
there are no extra spaces or other apparent oddities in the text which I
might expect to mess up the output.

If anyone else has seen this problem -- on any kind of printer capable
of "microspace" justification -- I'd appreciate hearing from you.  Until
I can get this bug fixed (or worked around), the output quality will not
be satisfactory for the intended purpose.

-- Rich Wales <wales@CS.UCLA.EDU> // UCLA Computer Science Department
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, CA 90024-1596 // +1 (213) 825-5683
   "I never lie when I've got sand in my shoes, Commodore."

wales@CS.UCLA.EDU (Rich Wales) (01/05/90)

In article <8912262204.AA05348@crayola.cs.UMD.EDU> I wrote:

	I have been having a problem with the proper handling of
	right-justified paragraphs and right-flush-tabbed material
	in Microsoft Word 5.0 for the PC and compatibles.  If anyone
	else has seen a similar problem, I would like to hear from
	you -- especially if you have a fix for it.

I eventually discovered my problem was not in fact due to any bug in
Word 5.0, but was being caused by a bug in the set of software fonts I
was developing at the time.  (I made a mistake in the way I was speci-
fying the width of a space in the fonts.)

Once I fixed my font generation software, the problem went away.

I had initially called Microsoft, asking them about the problem.  Once
I discovered it was "my fault" after all, I called them back and told
them they could discard my earlier bug report.

-- Rich Wales <wales@CS.UCLA.EDU> // UCLA Computer Science Department
   3531 Boelter Hall // Los Angeles, CA 90024-1596 // +1 (213) 825-5683
   "I never lie when I've got sand in my shoes, Commodore."