[opensuse] pdf character spacing/alignment problem
Hi, I have a problem related to the creation of pdf files. It works, technically, but the resulting file has lots of spacing problems. Words are broken up as if extra spaces were inserted. E.g. I open http://www.opensuse.org/ in konqueror, then Location -> Print -> Print to File (PDF). Then I open the pdf file I created and e.g. in the top left corner text is broken up as "op ensuse.org". Also, the bottom of some of the characters are misaligned, like the l ("el") is visibly higher than the n in the word "Download". Printing the pdf file on paper gives the same results so it's not just on the screen. The same happens when printing from OOo also. All this happened in opensuse 10.2. I also tried opensuse 10.3, which gives a different output, but also contains spacing and aligment probles (e.g. in 10.3 the n is higher up than the l in the word "Download"). Tom -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
benefici@fastmail.fm pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
Hi, I have a problem related to the creation of pdf files. It works, technically, but the resulting file has lots of spacing problems. Words are broken up as if extra spaces were inserted. E.g. I open http://www.opensuse.org/ in konqueror, then Location -> Print -> Print to File (PDF). Then I open the pdf file I created and e.g. in the top left corner text is broken up as "op ensuse.org". Also, the bottom of some of the characters are misaligned, like the l ("el") is visibly higher than the n in the word "Download". Printing the pdf file on paper gives the same results so it's not just on the screen. The same happens when printing from OOo also. All this happened in opensuse 10.2. I also tried opensuse 10.3, which gives a different output, but also contains spacing and aligment probles (e.g. in 10.3 the n is higher up than the l in the word "Download"). Tom
Can't help with konqueror but with OOo try exporting directly to PDF instead of printing to PDF. I use this all the time for a club newsletter and it works great. -- Ken Schneider SuSe since Version 5.2, June 1998 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2007. 12. 12., Wednesday 15:16, Ken Schneider wrote:
benefici@fastmail.fm pecked at the keyboard and wrote:
Hi, I have a problem related to the creation of pdf files. It works, technically, but the resulting file has lots of spacing problems. Words are broken up as if extra spaces were inserted. E.g. I open http://www.opensuse.org/ in konqueror, then Location -> Print -> Print to File (PDF). Then I open the pdf file I created and e.g. in the top left corner text is broken up as "op ensuse.org". Also, the bottom of some of the characters are misaligned, like the l ("el") is visibly higher than the n in the word "Download". Printing the pdf file on paper gives the same results so it's not just on the screen. The same happens when printing from OOo also. All this happened in opensuse 10.2. I also tried opensuse 10.3, which gives a different output, but also contains spacing and aligment probles (e.g. in 10.3 the n is higher up than the l in the word "Download"). Tom
Can't help with konqueror but with OOo try exporting directly to PDF instead of printing to PDF. I use this all the time for a club newsletter and it works great.
Printing to a PDF file is not available in OOo so I exported directly to PDF as you suggested. The problem in OOo is different, though, from the one in konqueror. I tried to print the exact same text with the same fonts as in konqueror but the results are fine. In case of OOo I got bad results so far only when using "Arial black" and also set to bold. Can you please try what you get if you do the following: create a new document, only with the word "Download" in it. Set it to "Arial Black", size 12, export to pdf, then look at the pdf file with at least 200% magnification. What I get is "Downl oa d", ie. there are extra spaces before and after "oa". Funnily, if I print "load" only, then it's fine. Does anyone else get the same result? Tom -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Thu, 2007-12-13 at 18:57 +0100, benefici@fastmail.fm wrote:
In case of OOo I got bad results so far only when using "Arial black" and also set to bold. Can you please try what you get if you do the following: create a new document, only with the word "Download" in it. Set it to "Arial Black", size 12, export to pdf, then look at the pdf file with at least 200% magnification. What I get is "Downl oa d", ie. there are extra spaces before and after "oa". Funnily, if I print "load" only, then it's fine. Does anyone else get the same result? Tom
It looks fine on this system - 10.2 x86-64, OOo 2.0.4, Acroread 7.0.8 Everything you've described screams broken font metrics at me. There's most likely a file with character widths etc that tells whatever library ooo uses to create pdfs how much space to add. And yours has errors for some reason. Sadly, I find fonts on Linux to be fiendishly complicated and specifically I've decided I don't have the patience or tuits to figure out how they work. Especially as it keeps changing. So all I can suggest is to double-check the installation sources, use whatever tools you have (xfontsel, maybe?) to double-check exactly what works and what doesn't (what registry is the font you're having problems with and what encoding? or maybe ooo uses some different mechanism!?), And google for 'broken font metrics' or 'arial problem ooo' or the like on the ooo site and elsewhere. HTH, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2007. 12. 14., Friday 00:10, Dave Howorth wrote:
On Thu, 2007-12-13 at 18:57 +0100, benefici@fastmail.fm wrote:
In case of OOo I got bad results so far only when using "Arial black" and also set to bold. Can you please try what you get if you do the following: create a new document, only with the word "Download" in it. Set it to "Arial Black", size 12, export to pdf, then look at the pdf file with at least 200% magnification. What I get is "Downl oa d", ie. there are extra spaces before and after "oa". Funnily, if I print "load" only, then it's fine. Does anyone else get the same result? Tom
It looks fine on this system - 10.2 x86-64, OOo 2.0.4, Acroread 7.0.8
Thank you for checking. Could you please send me the odt and pdf files in a private e-mail? I would like to check which step goes wrong on my PC.
Everything you've described screams broken font metrics at me. There's most likely a file with character widths etc that tells whatever library ooo uses to create pdfs how much space to add. And yours has errors for some reason.
Hmm. Is there such a file, containing metrics - besides the ttf file(s)? I checked the arial black ttf file and it is identical (binary) to what I found under win2k. If font metrics are broken then shouldn't this also influence rendering on the screen? But everything looks fine on the screen, no matter what font size and magnification I set.
So all I can suggest is to double-check the installation sources, use whatever tools you have (xfontsel, maybe?) to double-check exactly what works and what doesn't (what registry is the font you're having problems with and what encoding? or maybe ooo uses some different mechanism!?),
I checked the installation sources. Most of what I have is standard stuff. The only font related things I had from somewhere else were imlib2 and imlib2-loaders from the Packman repository. I downgraded them to the standard opensuse version but that didn't help. I'm going to install opensuse into a virtual machine with all standard settings to investigate further but it will take time... I don't understand what you mean by "registry". Encoding should not matter because all I'm using are ASCII characters. My locale is set to British English. Tom -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On Fri, 2007-12-14 at 21:56 +0100, benefici@fastmail.fm wrote:
On 2007. 12. 14., Friday 00:10, Dave Howorth wrote: Hmm. Is there such a file, containing metrics - besides the ttf file(s)? I checked the arial black ttf file and it is identical (binary) to what I found under win2k. If font metrics are broken then shouldn't this also influence rendering on the screen? But everything looks fine on the screen, no matter what font size and magnification I set.
I sent you the files as you asked. I can't suggest much else, because I don't understand it properly myself.
I checked the installation sources. Most of what I have is standard stuff. The only font related things I had from somewhere else were imlib2 and imlib2-loaders from the Packman repository. I downgraded them to the standard opensuse version but that didn't help. I'm going to install opensuse into a virtual machine with all standard settings to investigate further but it will take time...
That sounds a sensible idea. I'm surprised nobody else is having your problem.
I don't understand what you mean by "registry". Encoding should not matter because all I'm using are ASCII characters. My locale is set to British English.
See here for example <http://web.mit.edu/answers/xwindows/xwindows_font_fields.html> Your email address led me to think you might be using other encodings. If you're sure you're not then that's one less possible source of problems. Sorry I can't help more, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
benefici@fastmail.fm wrote:
Hi, I have a problem related to the creation of pdf files. It works, technically, but the resulting file has lots of spacing problems. Words are broken up as if extra spaces were inserted. E.g. I open http://www.opensuse.org/ in konqueror, then Location -> Print -> Print to File (PDF). Then I open the pdf file I created and e.g. in the top left corner text is broken up as "op ensuse.org". Also, the bottom of some of the characters are misaligned, like the l ("el") is visibly higher than the n in the word "Download". Printing the pdf file on paper gives the same results so it's not just on the screen. The same happens when printing from OOo also. All this happened in opensuse 10.2. I also tried opensuse 10.3, which gives a different output, but also contains spacing and aligment probles (e.g. in 10.3 the n is higher up than the l in the word "Download"). Tom
Sounds like a broken font. Try to use a different font to see if the problem goes away (perhaps use a well-known English/Latin-1 font because they are least likely to have problems). Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
On 2007. 12. 12., Wednesday 15:19, Dave Howorth wrote:
I have a problem related to the creation of pdf files. It works, technically, but the resulting file has lots of spacing problems. Words are broken up as if extra spaces were inserted. E.g. I open http://www.opensuse.org/ in konqueror, then Location -> Print -> Print to File (PDF). Then I open the pdf file I created and e.g. in the top left corner text is broken up as "op ensuse.org". Also, the bottom of some of the characters are misaligned, like the l ("el") is visibly higher than the n in the word "Download". Printing the pdf file on paper gives the same results so it's not just on the screen. The same happens when printing from OOo also. All this happened in opensuse 10.2. I also tried opensuse 10.3, which gives a different output, but also contains spacing and aligment probles (e.g. in 10.3 the n is higher up than the l in the word "Download"). Tom
Sounds like a broken font. Try to use a different font to see if the problem goes away (perhaps use a well-known English/Latin-1 font because they are least likely to have problems).
Thanks, Dave, that seems to be the right track. I'm still experimenting with programs/fonts/settings. What I found so far is that the problem depends on the type of the font used. Postscript Type 1 fonts work well. Opentype and TrueType fonts all seem to produce a horrible output. But I don't think it's the fonts that are broken, since most truetypes I tried are from the MS TTF package. What I tried so far: TrueType: Luxi Serif, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Verdana OpenType: Estrangelo Midyat Type 1: Luxi Sans, Nimbus Mono L, Nimbus Roman No9 L, Utopia It is also very strange that the misalignment between the letters l and n (distance between baselines) does not seem to be proportional to size, ie. small sizes are much more out of line than big sizes. Tom -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Wednesday 2007-12-12 at 14:42 +0100, benefici@fastmail.fm wrote:
Hi, I have a problem related to the creation of pdf files. It works, technically, but the resulting file has lots of spacing problems. Words are broken up as if extra spaces were inserted. E.g. I open http://www.opensuse.org/ in konqueror, then Location -> Print -> Print to File (PDF). Then I open the pdf file I created and e.g. in the top left corner text is broken up as "op ensuse.org". Also, the bottom of some of the characters are misaligned, like the l ("el") is visibly higher than the n in the word "Download". Printing the pdf file on paper gives the same results so it's not just on the screen. The same happens when printing from OOo also. All this happened in opensuse 10.2. I also tried opensuse 10.3, which gives a different output, but also contains spacing and aligment probles (e.g. in 10.3 the n is higher up than the l in the word "Download").
I don't know about konqueror, but I tried to print the <http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org> link from firefox, and the result is simply, horrible. First page has a single line printed at the top (the page header), then nothing. The second page depicts the central panel if I use the cups printer, and starts at "Jobs - Teams" if I use Postscript/default. So, yes, printing the opensuse web page is indeed broken. Printing a page from the wikipedia prints the article only, without the graphics - so it seems that wiki pages intercept the print function to do printing of what "they" think I want to print. But at least the wikipedia prints the article correctly, opensuse doesn't. Printing a page from "http://www.gnome.org/learn/users-guide/2.8/ch04s05.html" is also broken. The selector to choose print one frame or all or as displayed, is grayed out, on all three previous tests. Printing a page from my bank is fine. Seems a bug to me. However, from OOo is fine here, although I haven't tried today. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4-svn0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFHX/ultTMYHG2NR9URAp+XAJsHDA3I+q1Ht46equfrvnjVFCNiSwCglRd3 clNWLoLzmcNCVGKE2fkHuV4= =SSMO -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Carlos E. R. wrote:
I don't know about konqueror, but I tried to print the <http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org> link from firefox, and the result is simply, horrible.
First page has a single line printed at the top (the page header), then nothing.
The second page depicts the central panel if I use the cups printer, and starts at "Jobs - Teams" if I use Postscript/default.
So, yes, printing the opensuse web page is indeed broken.
I believe that's a different problem though. The problem you describe - and which I also see - is invariably caused by the use of absolute position statements in the CSS in my experience. The problem benefici described has very different symptoms, which I believe to be font problems (most likely font metrics, I suspect).
Printing a page from the wikipedia prints the article only, without the graphics - so it seems that wiki pages intercept the print function to do printing of what "they" think I want to print. But at least the wikipedia prints the article correctly, opensuse doesn't.
This is again CSS. They have different CSS for print media. But the pictures should be printing. Which page doesn't?
Printing a page from "http://www.gnome.org/learn/users-guide/2.8/ch04s05.html" is also broken.
Looks OK to me (in print preview)
The selector to choose print one frame or all or as displayed, is grayed out, on all three previous tests.
Those pages don't have frames do they? Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
Dave Howorth wrote:
Carlos E. R. wrote:
I tried to print the <http://en.opensuse.org/Welcome_to_openSUSE.org> link from firefox, and the result is simply, horrible.
The problem you describe - and which I also see - is invariably caused by the use of absolute position statements in the CSS in my experience.
Sorry, just in case I wasn't clear in what I mean. I believe that the design of that web page is broken. Specifically the CSS is broken for print media. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 The Wednesday 2007-12-12 at 16:39 -0000, Dave Howorth wrote:
So, yes, printing the opensuse web page is indeed broken.
I believe that's a different problem though.
Possibly.
The problem you describe - and which I also see - is invariably caused by the use of absolute position statements in the CSS in my experience.
The problem benefici described has very different symptoms, which I believe to be font problems (most likely font metrics, I suspect).
Printing a page from the wikipedia prints the article only, without the graphics - so it seems that wiki pages intercept the print function to do printing of what "they" think I want to print. But at least the wikipedia prints the article correctly, opensuse doesn't.
This is again CSS. They have different CSS for print media. But the pictures should be printing. Which page doesn't?
Any. For instance: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_time_operating_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitedLinux prints only the text, like a version prepared for printing. If I use print preview, I see some fonts are badly rendered, they print on top of others. For the opensuse wiki... the main page, for instance. I tried also "http://en.opensuse.org/Creating_YaST_Installation_Sources", and the preview clips text out of the page (the 'code' like text).
Printing a page from "http://www.gnome.org/learn/users-guide/2.8/ch04s05.html" is also broken.
Looks OK to me (in print preview)
Here it looks simply horrible. I get a thin column with the text, and a second column at the right containing the "learn" panel or frame, and only in the first page. The whole thing occupies 16 pages. I have the pdf file saved... I'll attach a low quality, small size screenshot, so you can see what I mean.
The selector to choose print one frame or all or as displayed, is grayed out, on all three previous tests.
Those pages don't have frames do they?
I have no idea. Could be that. - -- Cheers, Carlos E. R. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.4-svn0 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFHYEfrtTMYHG2NR9URAsfYAJ0Zt6EZhTgjNky+K8X9EuL6x8uq7QCeLS1K NwhXvlTT/8IvpwIFkxymdrg= =fnFJ -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
On Wed, 2007-12-12 at 21:43 +0100, Carlos E. R. wrote:
This is again CSS. They have different CSS for print media. But the pictures should be printing. Which page doesn't?
Any. For instance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_time_operating_system http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UnitedLinux
prints only the text, like a version prepared for printing.
I'm confused, Carlos. There aren't any pictures on those two pages to be printed!? Certainly, what is printed is laid out differently to what is shown on screen. That is deliberate. It is a feature of CSS that wikipedia has chosen to exploit. Mostly, it seems they have done it sensibly when I print pages. CSS is very powerful. Look at <http://www.csszengarden.com/> for example. You look at the page, then you click on one of the links at the right and you see the same HTML page again. But the CSS has changed. Again, if you print it - or use print preview to save the planet - you'll lose the graphical effects. But that was the choice of the authors. CSS also has a few flaws. One is that difference between screen and print media. There's no way that I know (short of screen capture) to print the screen version - that's a shortcoming of the browser, IMHO. CSS can also be fiendishly complicated. And it has a few gotchas. Like using absolute positioning and not providing a separate print profile.
If I use print preview, I see some fonts are badly rendered, they print on top of others.
The fonts themselves are rendered OK, yes? It's simply the positioning of different sections of text that is wrong. Which is mainly down to poor CSS again and also some browser implementation differences.
For the opensuse wiki... the main page, for instance. I tried also "http://en.opensuse.org/Creating_YaST_Installation_Sources", and the preview clips text out of the page (the 'code' like text).
Printing a page from "http://www.gnome.org/learn/users-guide/2.8/ch04s05.html" is also broken.
Looks OK to me (in print preview)
Here it looks simply horrible.
I get a thin column with the text, and a second column at the right containing the "learn" panel or frame, and only in the first page. The whole thing occupies 16 pages.
I have the pdf file saved... I'll attach a low quality, small size screenshot, so you can see what I mean.
Hmm, I see what you mean. On my machine it looks pretty much like the normal page. I'm using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686 (x86_64); en-GB; rv:1.8.1.4) Gecko/20061023 SUSE/2.0.0.4-1.1 Firefox/2.0.0.4 Perhaps you're using different fonts or a larger font size so that not as much text will fit across a line? There are some pages that don't display well in Firefox though. I've always assumed that (a) they were just written for IE and/or not tested with different fonts and (b) they use a poor choice of HTML style attributes or CSS. Cheers, Dave -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org
participants (5)
-
benefici＠fastmail.fm -
Carlos E. R. -
Dave Howorth -
Dave Howorth -
Ken Schneider