[Date: 07-05-2002]
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UPDATE: K-Meleon beta will not allow the selection of
"Print Text as Graphics" to be executed. As a result, the defect is
aggravated in the beta version. The same op. system, printer, etc.
were used for this beta-test. -- July 20, MT
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This is a report which tries to demonstrate a defect, whereby the
text displayed on the screen is NOT printed, when using the
K-meleon browser (0.6).
The code page (encoding) is anything other than ISO-8859-1 or
Windows-1252 but maybe this will not apply to ideographic characters
(not tried).
The trials were mostly with cyrillic code pages (KOI8-R, KOI8-U).
I. Install a new K-Meleon (there should be fewer things to keep
track of, this way).
II. Browser should be showing "Release Notes".
III. Go to <URL:http://koi8.pp.ru/font.html>
This is a demonstration of the Russian Net Character Set.
This web page, unfortunately, contains some unpleasant advertising.
Still, it is a good web page for testing purposes, having the
proper HTML-headers.
IV. The correct picture of the KOI8-R Table can be obtained here:
<URL:http://www.cyrillic.com/ref/cyrillic/koi8-r.gif> because
<URL:http://koi8.pp.ru/koi8-r.gif> is faulty.
V. Print (comes out two pages).
VI. We see:
Every letter or sign in the first table, which follows the picture
of KOI8-R, is correct. This table almost inevitably will be printed
in the typeface Courier New. The table has the caption "Your
Fixed Font".
The second table will have only five or six characters from code
page KOI8-R, and these will be precisely those which are also
elements of ISO-8859-1. The rest of the charset is blank.
Five characters, possibly six, because #154 is the non-breaking
space (#160 in ISO-8859-1), and I hope it is present and performing
the way it is supposed to. Now, I have not tested for the presence
of this space character -- maybe someone can figure out how best to
test it.
The typeface in this second table -- "Your Proportional Font"
in the caption -- is Times New Roman, if you have it (almost certainly
you do).
VII. We now carry out a special "clever maneuver" for printing,
CTRL P -- Properties -- Advanced,
then look for "Document Options"
then select "ON" for "Print Text as Graphics".
(It is between "Scan for Rules" which one leaves alone <ON>,
and "Metafile Spooling" which one also leaves <ON>.)
VIII. Print (two pages).
IX. Now every letter comes out correctly in both tables; the rectangles
and lines are single-width; the page breaks at the end of the fixed-
font table -- not after row A of the next table, as in the first
try. Also, curiously, there is less spacing between the lines and
it looks better, too. Row F (the bottom of the fixed table) is where
the bottom of Row E is in the first printing. The blanks made the
"bad" table narrower -- approx. 85% of the width of the Proportional
table when all goes well.
X. Print for the 3rd time.
XI. The result is identical to the way it was before the maneuver:
No proportional-pitch cyrillic letters, a broken table, a larger
drop between lines. "Print Text as Graphics" is automatically
back to its original "OFF".
[XII. One may later change one's choice of fonts and try more times;
then the fonts may become switched to double-width, for the line-
drawing elements for boxes, as well as black rectangles and shaded
areas. The graphics are probably from the Chinese-language font.
Here, when font-switching occurs I am not so sure about what is
happening.
One may also try to delete "Times New Roman" and "Arial", and
replacing them with better-behaved fonts, with the same name (or
with a different name, maybe) --- something I have not yet tried. ]
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General Observations:
The defect seems to me to be distributed among several components of
the computer installation, including printer, browser, op. system, and
font. Some programs "misbehave similarly" under the same op. system,
printer, and set of fonts, while others don't. An early beta version
of the new K-meleon was tested, but needs more tests.
It is a very serious bug, as it must have been seen and experienced by
multitudes of people, yet it is still there.
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Technical Data:
K-meleon:
Ver. 0.6
Compiled Oct. 26, 2001
Op. System:
Windows Nt, Version 4.0
Build 1381, Service Pack 5
This one was not 'localized'
Printer:
Hewlett-Packard
Laser Jet 6P
Other Browser:
Version 4.72.3110.8
Update Versions: ;SP1a
Fonts: so far, just the standard ones.
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JUL. 5 2002
Michael Taaffe <taaffe@...>
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