• Print preview vs WYSIWYG

    From Mr. Man-wai Chang@toylet.toylet@gmail.com to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 12:16:12 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10


    If WYSIWYG graphical interface can let you see/predict the printed
    result before printing something, why do we still see the Print Preview funciton? :)
    --
    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw

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  • From wasbit@wasbit@REMOVEhotmail.com to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 09:17:55 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 24/02/2026 04:16, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    If WYSIWYG graphical interface can let you see/predict the printed
    result before printing something, why do we still see the Print Preview funciton? :)


    Where is this WYSIWYG that you speak of?
    I quite often use the print preview to see how things align on the page.
    --
    Regards
    wasbit
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  • From Daniel70@daniel47@nomail.afraid.org to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 20:44:01 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 24/02/2026 8:17 pm, wasbit wrote:
    On 24/02/2026 04:16, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    If WYSIWYG graphical interface can let you see/predict the printed
    result before printing something, why do we still see the Print
    Preview funciton? :)


    Where is this WYSIWYG that you speak of?
    I quite often use the print preview to see how things align on the page.

    "WYSIWYG" == "What You See Is What You Get"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG
    --
    Daniel70
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  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 13:23:33 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026/2/24 9:44:1, Daniel70 wrote:
    On 24/02/2026 8:17 pm, wasbit wrote:
    On 24/02/2026 04:16, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    If WYSIWYG graphical interface can let you see/predict the printed
    result before printing something, why do we still see the Print
    Preview funciton? :)


    Where is this WYSIWYG that you speak of?
    I quite often use the print preview to see how things align on the page.

    "WYSIWYG" == "What You See Is What You Get"

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WYSIWYG

    Yes, we know that; however, it is often the case that a zoomed-in view -
    even in "Print View" as Word calls it (or used to, I haven't used a
    recent Word to know if it still does) - is easier to read. "Print
    Preview" often defaults to whole-page scaling, which lets you see how it
    is laid out on the page, but is often too small (especially on smaller
    screens such as laptops, and in general since we accepted being forced
    to shortscreen hardware) to read easily. Also, the top and bottom
    margins tend to introduce gaps, which interrupt the flow of reading.

    Good question - but, basically, I think the answer is that WYSIWYG
    doesn't mean quite what it originally implied.
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    looking like one who had drunk the cup of life and found
    a dead beetle in the bottom. - Wodehouse
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  • From JJ@jj4public@gmail.com to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 21:29:42 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 12:16:12 +0800, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
    If WYSIWYG graphical interface can let you see/predict the printed
    result before printing something, why do we still see the Print Preview funciton? :)

    Because the content which users have designed, may be beyond the capability
    of the printer which the users have. e.g. color content on B&W printer,
    content which is too wide for the printer, etc.

    WYSIWYG softwares should present the content on the monitor based on the default/selected printer. But unfortunately, they do not. At least, I
    haven't seen such software. IOTW, none of WYSIWYG softwares, are true
    WYSIWYG.

    But true WYSIWYG software may actually be impractical. e.g. suppose you're making a banner which will require more than one letter sized sheet of
    papers - the widest paper which your printer can handle. If the software is
    a true WYSIWYG, it'll present content and workspace in separate sections to represent multipe sheet of papers. Making the content itself would be
    difficult in that manner.
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  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 14:47:54 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026/2/24 14:29:42, JJ wrote:
    []
    WYSIWYG softwares should present the content on the monitor based on the default/selected printer. But unfortunately, they do not. At least, I
    haven't seen such software. IOTW, none of WYSIWYG softwares, are true WYSIWYG.
    []
    Not sure I agree with your "should". I might be designing a document
    with ideal output in mind - e. g. full colour, with binding, and other
    bells and whistles - that I will eventually take to a print shop (and
    may for drafts do a "print" to PDF) - but only actually have a very
    limited printer actually attached to my computer (or on my network). I
    don't want to limit my design abilities to what that can do (e. g. no
    colour). This is therefore another reason for the "print preview"
    function - to see how it will appear on my local draft printer (e. g. to
    see whether it's worth printing a draft at all).
    Arguably, print preview should be called WYSIWYG, and perhaps normal
    mode should be called something like WYSIWY_W_G - _would_ get if you had
    a printer capable of all the features you might imagine.
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
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  • From Paul@nospam@needed.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 11:09:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On Mon, 2/23/2026 11:16 PM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:

    If WYSIWYG graphical interface can let you see/predict the printed
    result before printing something, why do we still see the Print Preview function? :)

    The view of your DTP software, is virtual in a sense.
    Important details about how it prints can be missing.

    Similarly, the Print Preview may not capture all of the things
    wrong with your print settings. Prints in the past (due to printer
    language issues and .ppd info), showed up squashed into a one inch
    square on the paper, and the Print Preview could not capture
    a failure in the print chain.

    The views are "illustrative" but not perfect by any means.
    The operator still has to check various settings, margins
    and gutters, scale to fit, to help predict just how
    bad it will look, and whether yet another sheet of
    paper has been wasted.

    If all these views worked, you would never waste any paper.

    Paul


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  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@toylet.toylet@gmail.com to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Wed Feb 25 02:38:59 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2/24/2026 9:23 PM, J. P. Gilliver wrote:

    Good question - but, basically, I think the answer is that WYSIWYG
    doesn't mean quite what it originally implied.


    I think of one thing:

    If you wanna make sure that WYSIWYG is to be printed, then you should
    have selected the printer first before creating the document! Then as
    you edit, you should exactly see the printed result WYSIWYG.

    We don't do that in Micro$oft Word or any other word processors and
    desktop publishing software. :)
    --
    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
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  • From Mr. Man-wai Chang@toylet.toylet@gmail.com to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Wed Feb 25 02:42:40 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2/25/2026 12:09 AM, Paul wrote:

    The view of your DTP software, is virtual in a sense.
    Important details about how it prints can be missing.

    Similarly, the Print Preview may not capture all of the things
    wrong with your print settings. Prints in the past (due to printer
    language issues and .ppd info), showed up squashed into a one inch
    square on the paper, and the Print Preview could not capture
    a failure in the print chain.

    The views are "illustrative" but not perfect by any means.
    The operator still has to check various settings, margins
    and gutters, scale to fit, to help predict just how
    bad it will look, and whether yet another sheet of
    paper has been wasted.

    If all these views worked, you would never waste any paper.
    Then WYSIWYG is not practical nor useful. We can keep using Wordperfect
    or Wordstar for DOS with Print Preview (with modern printer drivers of course).

    Any Other Business:

    We should have never ever needed to tolerate black text on shiny white background, which is not friendly to eyes. :)

    Dark Mode should also have existed decades ago. Well...
    --
    @~@ Simplicity is Beauty! Remain silent! Drink, Blink, Stretch!
    / v \ May the Force and farces be with you! Live long and prosper!!
    /( _ )\ https://sites.google.com/site/changmw/
    ^ ^ https://github.com/changmw/changmw
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 21:22:15 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026-02-24 19:42, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
    On 2/25/2026 12:09 AM, Paul wrote:

    The view of your DTP software, is virtual in a sense.
    Important details about how it prints can be missing.

    Similarly, the Print Preview may not capture all of the things
    wrong with your print settings. Prints in the past (due to printer
    language issues and .ppd info), showed up squashed into a one inch
    square on the paper, and the Print Preview could not capture
    a failure in the print chain.

    The views are "illustrative" but not perfect by any means.
    The operator still has to check various settings, margins
    and gutters, scale to fit, to help predict just how
    bad it will look, and whether yet another sheet of
    paper has been wasted.

    If all these views worked, you would never waste any paper.
    Then WYSIWYG is not practical nor useful. We can keep using Wordperfect
    or Wordstar for DOS with Print Preview (with modern printer drivers of course).

    WYSIWYG is an approximation, it is an style of doing an application,
    different from what it was done in Wordperfect times, where font colours
    could be used instead of the actual font.

    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing
    as in paper, but aproximate enough.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
    ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
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  • From knuttle@keith_nuttle@yahoo.com to alt.comp.os.windows-10,alt.comp.os.windows-11,alt.comp.freeware on Tue Feb 24 17:39:11 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 02/24/2026 1:42 PM, Mr. Man-wai Chang wrote:
    On 2/25/2026 12:09 AM, Paul wrote:

    The view of your DTP software, is virtual in a sense.
    Important details about how it prints can be missing.

    Similarly, the Print Preview may not capture all of the things
    wrong with your print settings. Prints in the past (due to printer
    language issues and .ppd info), showed up squashed into a one inch
    square on the paper, and the Print Preview could not capture
    a failure in the print chain.

    The views are "illustrative" but not perfect by any means.
    The operator still has to check various settings, margins
    and gutters, scale to fit, to help predict just how
    bad it will look, and whether yet another sheet of
    paper has been wasted.

    If all these views worked, you would never waste any paper.
    Then WYSIWYG is not practical nor useful. We can keep using Wordperfect
    or Wordstar for DOS with Print Preview (with modern printer drivers of course).

    Any Other Business:

    We should have never ever needed to tolerate black text on shiny white background, which is not friendly to eyes. :)

    Dark Mode should also have existed decades ago. Well...

    Just for the record, a couple of years ago I update my Word perfect to
    the latest version 2021. I will update to the next version of Word
    Perfect when it is released. It come as a suite with a word processor,
    a spreadsheet, a presentation. The more expensive version comes with a database.

    It is currently on my computer running on Windows 11
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  • From croy@croy@spam.invalid.net to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Wed Feb 25 09:34:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing
    as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".
    --
    croy
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Wed Feb 25 20:17:36 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026-02-25 18:34, croy wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing
    as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".


    Well, my first language is not English. Thus I end by applying some "colour" without noticing. :-)
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
    ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Frank Slootweg@this@ddress.is.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Wed Feb 25 19:40:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 18:34, croy wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing
    as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".


    Well, my first language is not English. Thus I end by applying some
    "colour" without noticing. :-)

    My first language is not English either, but I think that (except for
    the small spelling error), "aproximate enough" is quite acceptable
    English, because it's similar to "close enough", which (AFAIK) *is*
    proper English.
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  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Wed Feb 25 21:19:23 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026-02-25 20:40, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 18:34, croy wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> >>> wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing >>>> as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".


    Well, my first language is not English. Thus I end by applying some
    "colour" without noticing. :-)

    My first language is not English either, but I think that (except for
    the small spelling error), "aproximate enough" is quite acceptable
    English, because it's similar to "close enough", which (AFAIK) *is*
    proper English.

    Hum.

    aproximate

    My spellchecker says it is correct. Problem: the spellchecker is set to
    both English and Spanish. TB doesn't know if I'm writing Spanish or
    English, so it applies both spellers simultaneously.

    If I untick "Spanish" then it flags as incorrect. But it is not correct Spanish, either.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
    ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From J. P. Gilliver@G6JPG@255soft.uk to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Thu Feb 26 12:18:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026/2/25 20:19:23, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 20:40, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 18:34, croy wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid>
    wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing >>>>> as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".


    Well, my first language is not English. Thus I end by applying some
    "colour" without noticing. :-)

    My first language is not English either, but I think that (except for
    the small spelling error), "aproximate enough" is quite acceptable
    English, because it's similar to "close enough", which (AFAIK) *is*
    proper English.

    Hum.

    aproximate

    My spellchecker says it is correct. Problem: the spellchecker is set to
    both English and Spanish. TB doesn't know if I'm writing Spanish or
    English, so it applies both spellers simultaneously.

    If I untick "Spanish" then it flags as incorrect. But it is not correct Spanish, either.

    At a guess, you have at some point - probably accidentally - added the incorrect one to the dictionary. Click on Spelling then Edit to get to
    the dictionary, and the ability to remove things you've added by
    mistake. (Spelling from the compose window.)
    --
    J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()ALIS-Ch++(p)Ar++T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

    Hadrian's Wall has never been a border between Scotland and England. It
    lies entirely within England but, when it was built in AD 122 by the
    Romans as a defence against the raiding Picts, the future English were
    still in Germany and the Scottish were still in Ireland.
    - Michael Cullen, Skye, in RT 2014/12/6-12
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  • From Carlos E.R.@robin_listas@es.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Thu Feb 26 13:32:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On 2026-02-26 13:18, J. P. Gilliver wrote:
    On 2026/2/25 20:19:23, Carlos E.R. wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 20:40, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:


    Hum.

    aproximate

    My spellchecker says it is correct. Problem: the spellchecker is set to
    both English and Spanish. TB doesn't know if I'm writing Spanish or
    English, so it applies both spellers simultaneously.

    If I untick "Spanish" then it flags as incorrect. But it is not correct
    Spanish, either.

    At a guess, you have at some point - probably accidentally - added the incorrect one to the dictionary. Click on Spelling then Edit to get to
    the dictionary, and the ability to remove things you've added by
    mistake. (Spelling from the compose window.)

    aproximate

    No, I don't get the "edit" option. Ah, click on the spelling button, not
    the drop down list. [...] No, the word is not listed there.
    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
    ESEfc-Efc+, EUEfc-Efc|;
    --- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Frank Slootweg@this@ddress.is.invalid to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Thu Feb 26 13:45:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 20:40, Frank Slootweg wrote:
    Carlos E.R. <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:
    On 2026-02-25 18:34, croy wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid>
    wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing >>>> as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".

    Well, my first language is not English. Thus I end by applying some
    "colour" without noticing. :-)

    My first language is not English either, but I think that (except for the small spelling error), "aproximate enough" is quite acceptable English, because it's similar to "close enough", which (AFAIK) *is*
    proper English.

    Hum.

    aproximate

    My spellchecker says it is correct. Problem: the spellchecker is set to
    both English and Spanish. TB doesn't know if I'm writing Spanish or
    English, so it applies both spellers simultaneously.

    If I untick "Spanish" then it flags as incorrect. But it is not correct Spanish, either.

    It's 'approximate' with two p's.

    Example reference: <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/approximate>
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  • From croy@croy@spam.invalid.net to alt.comp.os.windows-10 on Thu Feb 26 08:55:25 2026
    From Newsgroup: alt.comp.os.windows-10

    On Wed, 25 Feb 2026 20:17:36 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> wrote:

    On 2026-02-25 18:34, croy wrote:
    On Tue, 24 Feb 2026 21:22:15 +0100, "Carlos E.R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> >> wrote:


    It never meant that what you got on the screen was the exact same thing
    as in paper, but aproximate enough.

    I don't think I've ever heard the phrase, "aproximate enough".


    Well, my first language is not English. Thus I end by applying some "colour" without noticing. :-)

    ;-)
    --
    croy
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