App: Paper Sizes

[Isandunk]

Hi effjot, I've just downloaded your app from preware on my pre3... Works great, so thankyou. I'm a graphic designer and this quick reference is really useful. As for the black bar on the pre3, I simply added a meta tag beneath the head tag in the index.html:

<meta name='viewport' content='height=device-height'>

I haven't found any problems with this method. :-) Hope that helps.

[effjot]

Version 0.9.5 is out on Homebrew and soon (I hope) on the App Catalog.

I'd like to arrive at a “finished” version 1.0 soon. If you have any suggestions/wishes, bug reports, or like to help with a translation (which is quite simple), post them here in the forum.

Anybody with a Pre3: could you please check if it works with your phone? (On the emulator, there are ugly flickers, see my previous message.)

[Isandunk]

Originally Posted by effjot

Anybody with a Pre3: could you please check if it works with your phone? (On the emulator, there are ugly flickers, see my previous message.)

I can't see any flickers or anything that looks out of the ordinary when I've got it open.

Also, do you still need a new icon? If you do, I will try and come up with something... can you remind me of the pixel dimension sizes?

[p41m3r]

Works well on Pre 3. Thx for full screen update!

[effjot]

@Isandunk, p41m3r: Thanks for the positive feedback regarding the Pre3. So it seems that the flickering is a emulator issue.

@Isandunk: Thanks for the icon offer. In the meantime (since version 0.9.2, end of November), I have a new icon which is not that butt-ugly as the previous yellow one with the rectangle&rulers… If you feel compelled to offer an improvement, that'd be nice, but not that urgent as it was before.

[effjot]

A user suggested to include envelope sizes, which is a good idea IMO. I've already implemented DIN 678 and ISO 269 (which, strangely, has been withdrawn) envelopes.

I also had a look at North American sizes on Wikipedia and printernational.org, and before I release the next version, could someone from there tell me

• Are all these formats in common use (there are lots in the printernational.org list)?
• Are they “North American” or just “US”?

Thanks a lot!

[sdb1011]

It's a mess, isn't it.

Re. Canada, they used primarily the U.S. sizes, or did 20 years ago. Hopefully someone more current can comment.

Summary:

Here at home I always keep on hand the No.6-3/4 and No.10 and usually keep on hand several No.14, No.10-1/2 and a few No.14-1/2. I have a few other sizes, but they are leftovers from my wife's special projects.

Details:

Re. the U.S., the most common sizes are what WikiPedia lists as:

No.6-3/4 (Lady Chapham)	3-5/8 x 6-1/2 in	92.1 × 165.1 mm
No.10 (Tairy Greene)	4-1/8 x 9-1/2 in	104.8 × 241.3 mm

Measuring a few samples of each, I did not find even one with those exact dimensions. Usually mine were 1-2 mm smaller in both dimensions. I would attribute it to me buying cheap envelopes, but I also measured some that had arrived in the post. (I suspect the "inch" dimensions are the nominal standard, and the "mm" dimensions are converted, and manufacturers trim as small as they dare to save costs.)

I grew up calling the smaller of those common envelopes "personal" and the larger "business." In the U.S. it is common for "free" offers to require sending a "self-addressed, stamped envelope" (or SASE) and frequently they ask for a No.10 SASE.

No14 is used quite frequently to mail a few more "letter" size pages than will easily fit in a No10 (No14 is a "half-page" vs the "third-page" No10).

Also the sizes just a big bigger than standard U.S. paper sizes (letter, legal) are frequently used when more than a few sheets are mailed (e.g. a contract). Printinternational lists those as No.9-3/4, No.10-1/2, No.12-1/2, and No.14-1/2. (In my experience the 10-1/2 and 14-1/2 are more common.)

As printinternational notes, many of the other sizes in Monarch and smaller are used for "special" mailings such as greeting cards, party invitations, etc. I couldn't tell which if any are more or less common.

[effjot]

sdb1011, thanks for your reply!

Are the names given on Wikipedia (e.g. “Lady Chapham”) commonly used today? I found them only there; other sites had just Monarch, Personal and Business.

After stumbling across Envelope Size Chart - Help understanding envelope sizes. - PAPER-PAPERS.COM and envelopes, I found that there are even more kinds of envelope besides “announcement” and “commercial” found on Wikipedia. There's catalog, booklet, Baronial etc. And of course a Commercial No. 10½ is different from a Catalog No. 10½. :-/ Which kind of 10½ and 14½ did you mean?

I think I'll will stick to the Announcement and Commercial sizes, with perhaps any common catalog sizes you mentioned.

I never thought there could be that many sizes…

[effjot]

Now you can get version 0.9.6 from my homepage and soon on Homebrew/Preware.

This is an “intermediate” release with a selection of various envelope sizes. Please have a look at them and suggest improvements (see also my previous message).

Merry Christmas!

[sdb1011]

Originally Posted by effjot

re the names given on Wikipedia (e.g. “Lady Chapham”) commonly used today? I found them only there; other sites had just Monarch, Personal and Business.

As a casual user of envelopes, almost none of those names were familiar to me.

I suspect that if I were a graphic artist designing invitations, announcements, etc. that the names might be more meaningful. (I worked in the print industry for some years and the people working day in and day out with various paper sizes knew all sorts of names that I did not know for various sizes of paper.)

And of course a Commercial No. 10½ is different from a Catalog No. 10½. :-/ Which kind of 10½ and 14½ did you mean?

I think I'll will stick to the Announcement and Commercial sizes, with perhaps any common catalog sizes you mentioned.

I never thought there could be that many sizes…

I was referring to the catalog sizes on the printinternational site you mentioned a couple of posts back. Did they list duplicate "No. ###" names in the various categories? I'm suspicious of the veracity of duplicate size names/types. I don't know if I'd trust them. A quick look at some office supply catalogs and web sites (staples, officedepot) I didn't see duplicates (but that doesn't mean they don't exist...).

Maybe you could support a handful of sizes, but allow a user to put in a few names and sizes they regularly use?

[effjot]

Welcome back from Christmas break! ;-)

sdb1011, thanks for your comments on common envelope sizes and names!
Re duplicates: By then, I had accumulated quite a list of web pages about envelope sizes. For example, sizes.com has different sizes 10 in “Commercial”, “Booklet” and “Metal-clasp envelopes”; and different sizes 10½ in Catalog and “Commercial”. Paper-papers.com has different sizes 10 in “Commercial” and “Booklet”.

I think I'll cut down the mess to a selection of sizes the seem common and consistent on those various sites, and according to your info. Expect a update on Homebrew tonight or tomorrow.

BTW, does anybody know how the principle behind those size numbers? Is there any?


Thanks for the suggestion for custom sizes that can be edited by the user! This would need a major rework of the “storage model” (right now, everything is contained in a big global variable statically assigned at startup), so this idea won't make it before the 1.0 release. However, I've received several nice ideas which I'd like to include after 1.0. I'll post a roadmap soon.

[effjot]

Originally Posted by sdb1011

No14 is used quite frequently to mail a few more "letter" size pages than will easily fit in a No10 (No14 is a "half-page" vs the "third-page" No10).

Letter is 8½ inches wide, 11 inches high. Folded to thirds makes it 3⅔ inches high, which fits well in a #10 envelope. However, folded in half is 5½ high, whereas a #14 is only 5 inches tall. Could you please check and tell me what's wrong with my thinking? Thanks!