Re: "Kerning?"

["..." adpf@xxxxxxxx]

 >Jeez, you know, when you were fiddling with that PS AT> and AT< command, I
 >was thinking to myself, shouldn't it be AT# a la PCL? But I figured Annie
 >knows her PS stuff --Robert Holmgren

≪ I figured the same thing. I was a little surprised that her first
 printer file string didn't work but when I mentioned it she said she
 was just guessing. ≫ --R Tennenbaum

 >But I thought Annie said to me, in response to my question, that you *can*
 >have a dynamic intercharacter space command under PS? I specifically asked
 >her about that!

≪ Can't say. ≫

I plead guilty to not knowing my out-of-the-box xyWrite PostScript
printer driver stuff. As soon as I got into PS I replaced the v3 PS fb<
with a graphics app's PS prolog. Before printing with xyDos 4 I realized
that v4 wasn't for me, so I haven't studied v4 prn docs closely.
I'm unfamiliar with AT#, don't see it in the v4 PS driver, and
suspect that the language makes it superfluous.

This I do know: The printing industry's choice of PS speaks for itself;
PCL is a nonissue. To PS, type is just another graphical element.
Depending on the fb<, anything PS can do with type or EPS images
(letterhead or anything else), xyWrite PS can do. As for dynamics,
a graph I designed that uses the same prolog as my fb< swallows
numbers from a data base, draws the graph accordingly, and adjusts
the boilerplate type to accommodate anomolies. It's published
regularly without maintenance in a newsletter.

The attribute I suggested probably would letterspace misfires because
it calls the wrong operator. A driver that tries to use that operator
for that purpose is flawed. To understand why, you must understand
affected elements. That operator and the one intended for the purpose--
as I've said from the git-go, ashow--don't exist in a vacuum. PostScript
is a rich, well-documented programming language.

 >Rafe, can you parse the PS command for me, please, just to give some insight
 >into how PS drivers work? I.e., what are ) and (, what are s, 2, 0, and r?

≪ I wish I could, Robert. Absent a big, thick, expensive manual I went
 into the printer file and copied the syntax from the CP table. ≫

I paid $10 for my "big, thick, expensive manual," assuming you mean
the Red Book. The list price on my copy of the kinder, gentler Peachpit
book I recommended to you--really all you need--is $22.95. For anyone
unwilling to rtfm, TTG provides a time-tested plain vanilla fb<. I'll
be happy to try to help anyone who wants to expand the possibilities
and has done some homework. Folks whose interest is patently passive
can look elsewhere.

============================= adpFisher  nyc