ford@sei.cmu.edu (Gary Ford) (05/20/91)
Recent discussions of word and letter spacing in Word 4.0 suggest that the PostScript generated by Word might be worth seeing. Here is an example. The PostScript command "awidthshow" prints a character string while adjusting the spacing between words and between letters. The command takes six parameters: cx, cy, char, ax, ay, and string. The string parameter is the string to be printed. The parameters cx and cy are added to the x width and y width, respectively, of all occurrences of the character char within the string. This feature is generally used by specifying the space character as char and the extra spacing between words as parameter cx. The parameters ax and ay are added to the x width and the y width of all characters. If parameter ax is greater than zero, extra space is inserted between letters in words. Here is what this paragraph looks like when formatted by Word 4.0 in 12 point New Century Schoolbook with a 6.5 inch justified line. 1.24862 0. 32 0.12486 0.(The PostScript command \322awidthshow\323 prints a character string while adjusting)awidthshow 95 72 gm 0 gr 3.61526 0. 32 0.36152 0.(the spacing between words and between letters. The command takes six)awidthshow 108 72 gm 0.58990 0. 32 0.05899 0.(parameters: cx, cy, char, ax, ay, and string. The string parameter is the string to)awidthshow 121 72 gm 1.97204 0. 32 0.19720 0.(be printed. The parameters cx and cy are added to the x width and y width,)awidthshow 134 72 gm 0.20645 0. 32 0.02064 0.(respectively, of all occurrences of the character char within the string. This feature)awidthshow 147 72 gm 0.96130 0. 32 0.09613 0.(is generally used by specifying the space character as char and the extra spacing)awidthshow 160 72 gm 1.54846 0. 32 0.15484 0.(between words as parameter cx. The parameters ax and ay are added to the x)awidthshow 173 72 gm 0.28961 0. 32 0.02896 0.(width and the y width of all characters. If parameter ax is greater than zero, extra)awidthshow 186 72 gm 0.54718 0. 32 0.05471 0.(space is inserted between letters in words. Here is what this paragraph looks like)awidthshow 199 72 gm 0.81893 0. 32 0.08189 0.(when formatted by Word 4.0 in 12 point New Century Schoolbook with a 6.5 inch)awidthshow 212 72 gm (justified line.)show Notice that parameter ax is greater than zero and different for each line. Hence each line has different spacing between letters of words. (Not all of the PostScript file is shown above; only the pertinent lines.) Gary Ford Software Engineering Institute Carnegie Mellon University