Print dialog - Page size & Margins not correct
Posted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 8:32 pm
The Print dialog shows a small preview of the page, but the page size appears to have been cropped/resized in an unusual way. For example, when I choose a paper size in the printer configuration, such as Letter 8.5 x 11 inches, then switch to the Layout tab, the preview states the paper size to be 8.2 x 10.7 inches (a difference of 0.30 inch in each dimension). I'm guessing this is calculated internally somehow to account for the printer's minimum margins, except it is not correctly calculated. My printer, a HP Color Laserjet 5550n, has minimum margins of 0.17 inch all the way around. Simple math suggests a printable area that's 0.34 inch less than the true paper dimension, not 0.30. Is the program rounding off its calculation to only 1 decimal place?
Furthermore, the paper preview represents only the printable area of the page, with the printer's minimum margins removed (according to the programs calculation, anyway). Positioning the image accurately on the page becomes quite confusing. For instance, a position setting of left or top (with margins = 0) will print the image purely inside the printer's minimum margins (along those 2 edges); however, a position setting of right or bottom (margins = 0) will print the image starting at the paper's true edge, and the part of the image lying within the printer's minimum margin area gets cropped (nothing can possibly be printed within any printer's minimum margin area, unless you happen to have a full-bleed photo printer).
I think the preview should show the whole true page size, with some indication of where the printer's minimum margins are located. Then the user could have greater control of the accuracy of the image position, and the margin settings would then be true measurements from the edges of the paper.
It took me several hours of test-printing and troubleshooting to figure out what was going on with this printing feature, but I otherwise think XnView is a TERRIFIC freeware option that could make users of ACDSee wonder why they are spending their money on it.
-KernMapper
Furthermore, the paper preview represents only the printable area of the page, with the printer's minimum margins removed (according to the programs calculation, anyway). Positioning the image accurately on the page becomes quite confusing. For instance, a position setting of left or top (with margins = 0) will print the image purely inside the printer's minimum margins (along those 2 edges); however, a position setting of right or bottom (margins = 0) will print the image starting at the paper's true edge, and the part of the image lying within the printer's minimum margin area gets cropped (nothing can possibly be printed within any printer's minimum margin area, unless you happen to have a full-bleed photo printer).
I think the preview should show the whole true page size, with some indication of where the printer's minimum margins are located. Then the user could have greater control of the accuracy of the image position, and the margin settings would then be true measurements from the edges of the paper.
It took me several hours of test-printing and troubleshooting to figure out what was going on with this printing feature, but I otherwise think XnView is a TERRIFIC freeware option that could make users of ACDSee wonder why they are spending their money on it.
-KernMapper