[libreoffice-users] Re: Avery 8167 label printing

On 2/10/16 8:28 AM, Gary Dale wrote:
> On 09/02/16 11:39 PM, Ken Springer wrote:
> > On 2/9/16 2:23 PM, Gary Dale wrote:
> > > On 09/02/16 03:23 PM, Dave Liesse wrote:
> > > > I've never had any luck with any of the Avery templates I've tried
> > > > (although my problem has been mostly with left-to-right adjustments
> > > > rather than top-to-bottom).  I finally just got in the habit of
> > > > setting my paragraph position as 1/8" into the label; fooling with the
> > > > template specs didn't do the job.
> > >
> > > I've occasionally found problems with the labels but they are minor. For
> > > small labels, like return-address labels, the print V. Pitch may be a
> > > little off so the labels creep up or down a little as you go down the
> > > page.
> >
> > I think this could also occur due to printer's paper feed abilities.
> > In this case, the error is consistent.
> Are you referring to the page slipping on the rollers? That would likely
> produce inconsistent results. If the labels are simply off consistently,
> that would be the top margin. If they vary consistently down that page,
> that would be vertical pitch.

Slippage in the rollers is what I was thinking of.

In my case, the error is consistent, so slippage is not problem.

Telling the printer where to actually start the printing appears to be 
the issue.  We'll call it the top margin for convenience, but even that 
has it's own issues.  Since the driver is TWAIN, the brand of printer 
shouldn't make a difference as long as the printer manufacturer doesn't 
screw up the driver.

Time to "expand our horizons".  (Sounds like a motivational speaker, 
doesn't it?   LOL)

LO's built-in template, displayed on the screen, is correct.  The 
paper's top margin is .5" on the screen and in real life.  Positioning 
of the text is also correct, as displayed on the screen.

Only printing is in error.

Now...  Suppose you are creating X number of label designs for someone 
else.  They don't have LO, how to you get the labels to them?  Today, I 
think almost everyone's answer would be PDF.

Fair enough, but that doesn't work either.  If you create the PDF with 
the default template settings, which are correct, the resulting PDF file 
is also in error.  I tried it.  Same vertical offset issue.

So you change the top margin, create the PDF, and yep, labels print 
correctly.

What's wrong with this?

In the above scenario, the recipient of the PDF may/can/will look at the 
labels before printing them, to see if they are correct.  (If they 
don't, they aren't doing their job.)  Guess what?  They'll see the top 
margin error, more easily spotted if you have a vertical ruler option. 
If you send a PDF based on the correct template (the one supplied by 
LO), the printing will be off.  If you send a PDF based on a modified 
template, the visual display on the screen will be off.

In this situation, LO falls on its face in providing WYSIWYG...  What 
You See Is What You Get.  One of the principals in modern computers. 
What is displayed on the screen is what is supposed to come out of the 
printer or other device.

This is no different than if you had the font set for 12 points, but the 
output to either screen or printer was 16 points.  Not a good thing in 
the long run.

> > > There used to be a problem with multi-column labels but they seem to
> > > have redone the label specification to correct that. When creating
> > > labels, there is "Format" tab that lets you adjust the label properties.
> > > In its new incarnation, it is easy to use and gives you exactly what you
> > > need to adjust the properties of incorrectly specified common label
> > > formats down to 1/100 of an inch.
> >
> > In the end, I'll probably do this.
> >
> > > You can specify the top margin, label height and vertical pitch (the
> > > last two may be different if there is space between the labels) and do
> > > the same for the left margin, label width and horizontal pitch. They
> > > also allow you to specify the page size and the number of rows and
> > > columns.
> > >
> > > If you think a label isn't defined correctly, fix it. Also, file a bug
> > > report so that the developers can fix it for everyone. It's better to
> > > light a candle or two than to curse the darkness.
> >
> > In this case, the label spec is correct.  Font design will have to
> > have a factor in this someway too, I suspect.
>
> It shouldn't unless LO calculates the position of the next label
> relative to the end of the previous text. It would seem more natural
> (and simpler) to calculate in absolute terms.

Upon retrospect, I agree.  But it is something you have to be cognizant 
of when designing the label, as it can affect the apparent vertical 
centering of text on the label.  Which can effect what you think may be 
happening with label output.  In my case, the label includes a graphic, 
which is unaffected by text positioning.  Makes it easy to figure out 
where the problem is likely to be.

Another overall negative effect of this problem is, you have to ask 
yourself, if this is broken, what else in the suite is broken? 
Especially if you are using LO to make a living.  Is there another 
feature I use in Writer that doesn't work correctly?  What if one or two 
functions in the spreadsheet calculate incorrectly?  What if Base 
occasionally mangles your data?

I remember years ago when Intel turned out a chip that had an error in 
it's math calculations.  It was a rare happening, but when they finally 
admitted it publicly, trying to say it wasn't important do to the rare 
occurrence, it did not go over well at all!  <G>

--
Ken
Mac OS X 10.8.5
Firefox 44.0
Thunderbird 38.0.1
"My brain is like lightning, a quick flash
     and it's gone!"


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