#set TITLE = "making paper-based output"
#include top

.ig >>
<center>
<img src="../gallery/vermonth.gif"><br>
</center>
.>>

.SH DESCRIPTION
This page contains notes regarding the use of ploticus to 
produce paper-based reports and publications.


.SH PAPER-BASED REPORTS
.LP
Although the current buzz is mostly surrounding the web and other high tech means
of information delivery, paper continues to play an essential role
for meeting materials and reports.
.LP
Fortunately, \fBploticus\fR can create attractive data displays on paper, 
using vector graphics and PoscScript fonts, and control over page layout
and pagination.

.SH SUPPORTED PRINTER LANGUAGES
.LP
\fBPloticus\fR can generate paginated PostScript or 
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS).
Use the \fC-ps\fR command line option to get paginated PostScript;
use \fC-eps\fR for EPS.
Paginated PostScript may be sent directly to printers and
may contain multiple pages.  EPS generally contains one picture or figure;
it may be printed directly or it may be imported by other software applications.


.SH IMAGE IMPORT
.LP
Another way to work is to create PNG or GIF files with \fBploticus\fR,
and import these into your document.

.SH CONSIDERATIONS
Here are some issues that come into play with paper-based reports:
.IP \(bu
Color: paper-based reports must often must be in monochrome
due to photocopying limitations.  A background color of white
gives the best results.
Printers convert colors to grays
but results may not be quite what you would expect.
Foreground and background colors may be controlled from \fBproc page\fR
or from the command line.
When creating EPS, the default background is \fCtransparent\fR.

.IP \(bu
Fonts: PostScript fonts are more attractive than with the other
output formats.  Style variations such as bold and italic, as
well as a wider range of sizes are available.  A wide array of
symbols are also available under PostScript as well, and can
be accessed using
.ig >>
<a href="specialchars.html">
.>>
special character codes
.ig >>
</a>
.>>
 .
.IP \(bu
When printing results directly,
graphs may need to be layed out properly with respect to 
standard-sized sheets of paper.
\fBProc areadef\fR includes several different methods for
specifying layout geometry.
.IP \(bu
Paper orientation is the way the paper is held.  Paper may be portrait (tall)
or landscape (oblong).  Orientation may be set in \fBproc page\fR
or on the command line.
.IP \(bu
Pagination - a single script file may generate multiple pages of results.
In \fBpl\fR, \fBproc page\fR is used to specify a page break.
With \fBpltab\fR, longer tables and lists automatically overflow
onto multiple pages.

#include bottom
