[FM Discuss] a5 output error in formatting

[Daniel James]

Hi Mick, hi Adam,

> the rest of what you describe is booklet formatting and thats
> trickier..you might wanna look at this:
> http://blog.booki.cc/2011/01/free-software-pdf-readers/

The technique of making the pages print in binding order instead of
reading order is called imposition. It can be done on GNU/Linux using
the command line:

http://wiki.scribus.net/canvas/PDF,_PostScript_and_Imposition_tools

>> Eventually this kind of booklet css could be a drop down option, great
>> for demoing Book Type, great of low cost print/ photocopy runs

To do imposition you need to know how many pages are in the final
booklet before you output the imposed PDF. I'm not sure if that could be
done by CSS alone. Possibly you would need to generate a PDF first, in
reading page order, then have a second process to impose it once the
page count and printer size was known. For example, if you are printing
an A5 booklet on an A3 laser printer the imposition is obviously
different from printing on A4 paper.

>> or
>> anything where you don't need a cover or table of contents.

Covers are no problem with this technique, you just print the first
imposed page on heavier stock, say 160gsm (or whatever maximum your
laser printer can handle).

Imposition is also useful for printing fold-up booklets, map-style.

Cheers!

Daniel