Printing "Double page" PDFs.

[Thunder_God]

How do I properly print PDFs like Burning Wheel, where in each page we have two smaller than A4 pages are contained? Right now I have to squint and the text is not as legible as it can be.

[Vaxalon]

You could print them on legal size paper in landscape format.

[Thunder_God]

I print on A4 in Landscape, but it sizes the paper to fit, which shrinks it; resulting in me squinting and the text not being as fully legible/easy to read as I'd like and be comfortable with.

[Luke]

turn off the shrink to fit option and pop up the output percentage to 110%. The graphics will get cropped, but it should keep all the text on the page.

hope that helps.
-L

[Paul Czege]

I had this issue when I was doing the layout of My Life with Master. With 7 x 8.5 pages I should have able to print two page spreads perfectly on legal sized paper using a landscape orientation. But for some reason Acrobat Reader imposes additional margins on the sheet and sizes the pages down. And for proofing purposes I needed accurate sizing.

Ultimately, I was unable to find a way to prevent Acrobat Reader from resizing when I printed two page spreads. So I printed them as single pages, landscape, on letter sized paper, and then trimmed off the extra four inches.

If there's a way to prevent that resizing, I'd love to hear it.

Paul

[Thunder_God]

Erm, is it possible to make a "Screen" version like other RPGs get? Of the page in a portrait instead of Landscape? Even bare text with no headings and formatting at all would be good.

[Luke]

Erm, is it possible to make a "Screen" version like other RPGs get? Of the page in a portrait instead of Landscape? Even bare text with no headings and formatting at all would be good.

if you're asking specifically about BW, this isn't an appropriate topic for this forum. Please post over at BW with any complaints about our pdfs or whatnot.

However, the very short answer is: No, not right now.

-L

[Sixteen Coal Black Horses]

How do I properly print PDFs like Burning Wheel, where in each page we have two smaller than A4 pages are contained? Right now I have to squint and the text is not as legible as it can be.

I may be rehashing previous comments, but the key to building a good PDF is to first decide how the PDF will be delivered. Will it be for print or screen or both? Once you've decided that, the rest is a matter of testing and problem solving.

One of the most important factors in building a PDF is the software you are using to make the PDF. If I am not mistaken, BW is built using InDesign CS. 16CBH also uses this program and I can tell you that using InDesign makes creating PDFs an easy task.

If you are building a PDF for online delivery and mean for the book to be read on a computer monitor, then you need to approach the construction of the book as if it were a web page. Decide the base resolution of the work and then build the book only at that resolution. For the Battleaxe RPG we worked in 800x600 and made font choices accordingly. While using InDesign we worked at 100% magnification to ensure the readability of the text. Of course, exceptions were made, but by and large, the book is readable in Acrobat without magnification.

If you are building a PDF for print, then it is likely the book will not be readily readable on a computer screen. Saving paper means smaller fonts which prevents the document from being computer screen friendly.

Building a hybrid PDF means using larger fonts and accepting the long page count.

It sounds like you are trying to build a spread (2 pages side by side) that is readable on computer screen. I would recommend as an alternative that you use a landscape letter or legal page and use multiple columns instead of using a spread.  Take a look at the Creeping Dead on our website as an example of this.

-- Doug Woolsey

[Thunder_God]

Erm, is it possible to make a "Screen" version like other RPGs get? Of the page in a portrait instead of Landscape? Even bare text with no headings and formatting at all would be good.

if you're asking specifically about BW, this isn't an appropriate topic for this forum. Please post over at BW with any complaints about our pdfs or whatnot.

However, the very short answer is: No, not right now.

-L

I'm not; this thread is about all books that are published this way and merely used BW as an example. Sorry for the confusion.