Re: printout tweaks

[cga2000 <cga2000@optonline.net>]

On Mon, May 15, 2006 at 06:05:14PM EDT, cga2000 wrote:
> Is there any way I can control the font that ends up on the printed
> page? I was thinking of specifying a different font, a smaller
> pointsize, or a proportional font rather than a fixed font when
> printing emails from mutt for instance.
> 
> I run cups and the printer is an old HP laserjet 2100M (native
> postscript).
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> cga
> 
Due to the lack of response and after thinking it over, I am beginning
to realize that it is not the role of the print system to handle these
aspects. Wrong layer..

In other words, my understanding at this point is that you need to
choose different font styles, size, etc. at the application level -
prior to printing - and then direct the application to create suitable
output that will be directed to the printer. 

This is rather a complicated situation since you would need to configure
each application separately to generate consistent printouts. 

This approach becomes rather silly in the case of GUI applications such
as the mozilla browser where you have to write down you optimized screen
fonts settings, enter your favored printer fonts settings, print the
page, and then manually restore your original screen fonts settings.

At a different level, it does not appear to make much sense to use a low
resolution display such as the computer screen (c. 100 dpi on this
laptop) to make sensible decisions regarding the choice of fonts for
document printed on a 1200 dpi printer. I am quite happy with fonts such
as Microsoft's Verdana or Tahoma where the computer screen is concerned
but these fonts are definitely not what I would choose for a printout.

On the other hand some applications appear to default to excellent
printer fonts, albeit at a point size larger than I would favor.
Printing man pages via "man -t" for instance prints man pages using
some palatino-style font that gives very pleasing results.

Is there any utility that might provide a unique control point where I
could specify my font customization in order to provide consistent
output from all applications?

Could anyone recommend a better strategy?

Or does this fall outside the scope of this list and should I take it
to a different newsgroup or mailing list?

Thanks,

cga