[pmwiki-devel] OT: Special Printing Paper, help?

Tue Feb 13 13:53:35 CST 2007

I'm trying to do customized printing paper for kids who need different 
spacing. Took me ten minutes to do it in Word, and the printed results 
work great, but it's hard to explain to others how to change it as needed.

(http://www.sandy.onebit.ca/Nonfic/Printpaper )

My plan was to do a form/program in PHP/HTML/CSS so teachers and 
occupational therapists can make the paper they like, then photocopy the 
results.

I finally got a test page going (see below), but the dotted line is too 
strong.

I'm reluctant to go with grey because it won't survive photocopying.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I've reached the limits of my 
technical knowledge.

+++++

Other Info:

The units can be arbitrary, but must be reproducible on a given system. 
The spacing on a "size 7" page will be the same as the "size 7" group on 
the test page. They should be something close to what Word calls points. 
My son's writing is much neater at 9 pt than at 7 pt.

Eventually I'd like at least three line sequences, and optional colours 
between the lines. (See the website.) So I'll need solid, dashed or 
dotted, and something even fainter. May even need "thick" for some kids 
-- if I'm doing it, may as well do it right.

Ideally, it should be something I can pass on to other website 
administrators, or even something that people can easily download to 
their home computers.

If I have to choose I'll go IE since it's more common.

+++++

Thanks in advance!

Sandy

+++++

Sample code:

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Printing Paper by Onebit Software and Friends</TITLE>

<style>
.t
{font-size:12pt;margin:0;padding:0;bottom:0;top:0;
}
.tt
{font-size:12pt;margin:0;padding:0;bottom:0;top:0; border-left:1px;
}
</style>

</HEAD>

<BODY class="t">

<?php

$size1 = 1;
$size2 = 5;
$sets= 3;	# Number of sets at each size; 1 set = 3 rows
		# at least for proof-of-concept stage

echo "<p class='tt'>testing line settings\n";
echo "<p class='tt'
	style='line-height: 5mm; border-bottom: solid 0.5pt;'>
	solid 0.5pt</P>\n";
echo "<p class='tt'
	style='line-height: 5mm; border-bottom: solid 1.5pt;'>
	solid 1pt</P>\n";
echo "<p class='tt'
	style='line-height: 5mm; border-bottom: dotted 0.5pt;'>
	dotted 0.5pt</P>\n";
echo "<p class='tt'
	style='line-height: 5mm; border-bottom: dotted 1pt;'>
	dotted 1pt</P>\n";
echo "<p class='tt'
	style='line-height: 5mm; border-bottom: dashed 0.5pt;'>
	dashed 0.5pt</P>\n";
echo "<p class='tt'
	style='line-height: 5mm; border-bottom: dashed 1pt;'>
	dashed 1pt</P>\n";

$i=$size1;
while ($i < $size2+1)
{
	echo "<BR><p class='tt' style='font-size:12pt;margin:0 ; padding:0'>$i\n";
	$j=0;
	while ($j < $sets)
	{
		echo "<p class='tt' style='line-height: {$i}mm; border-bottom: solid 
1.5pt; '>&nbsp;</P>\n";
		echo "<p class='tt' style='line-height: {$i}mm; border-bottom: dashed 
0.5pt;'>&nbsp;</P>\n";
		echo "<p class='tt' style='line-height: {$i}mm; border-bottom: solid 
1.5pt; '>&nbsp;</P>\n";
		++$j;
	}	
	++$i;
}

php?>