broken lines in preview

rbuser

I've design a report that join lines from band to band forming a straight
line from Title-Detail-Summary. When I access preview, on 33% (or somewhere
around it) the lines look broken from the previewer. When I magnify to 100%,
it's actually join together. It is also join when I print it out, but when
it is viewed smaller, it is as if I could see the line as broken up at the
areas where I join them. I want to know why is it like that.

Thanks

digitalmetaphors

We have two choices when we create a preview - compose for the screen, or
compose for the printer. Most programs such as MS Word compose to the screen
when they create a preview. This makes for attractive previews but they tend
to be inaccurate. And it means that they then compose again for the printer
when you print the document. Most of the time things will print effectively
similar to the preview, but we have seen many times when the printed output
was different - a word wrapped to the next line, or some such problem. If
you use a program meant for accurate page layout, such as PageMaker, you
will notice that the Page Setup dialog asks you for which printer you wish
to compose. When PageMaker displays a page, it may not look exactly how you
think it should, but you do get a preview where the element placement is
guaranteed to match the printed output's element placement. We have chosen
to follow this second model.

Note that when we say element placement, we are referring to X and Y
placement and not height and width. While the X and Y placement of our
previews will be accurate, the height and width of text elements may vary
based on zoom percentage. This is a normal artifact of composing for the
printer and not for the screen.

Your preview can not match your printed output. It will differ in one of two
ways:

1- It can look good on the screen, but items on the page may not display in
the same location they will when printed.
or
2- It can be less attractive, but items will display on the preview exactly
where they will when printed.

We give you the second because it is more accurate and more reliable. Not to
mention more in keeping with professional page layout products.


Cheers,

Jim Bennett
Digital Metaphors