PDF XChange Forum

Hi, Tracker staff & all.
In a couple of posts (1 and 2) it has been remarked that setting
File --> Print --> Advanced Printing Options --> More --> Text Rendering Mode = either Bitmap Always or Bitmap for Embedded Fonts
for PDF-XChange Lite did not seem to actually result in bitmapped fonts when the output is a PDF file, but rather regenerated curves.
To avoid sending those other posts off on a tangent, I am opening a new topic specifically about these observations.
Is that the intended behaviour, or does the functionality only apply under certain conditions, or is the feature subject to a bug at the moment? Or is the bitmapping indeed occurring, but in a way that is just not obvious to me?

Thanks,
DIV

Hi Div,

Thank you for the email. Fonts when printing to PDF depends largely on the application that's calling the printer, and the data it sends to that printer. Often times you will see this when printing web pages to PDF. Unfortunately, the Lite driver is limited to using the information sent to it.

I hope this helps!

Thanks, Patrick.

BTW, although this is included in the online Editor manual, I couldn't find it in the PDF Manual for Editor that I had downloaded in January 2017 (internal file date is 20 December 2016).

Given that in practice bitmapping seems to depend on a few different factors that you have alluded to, I suggest that the phrasing "Bitmap always" is not entirely representative. "Bitmap Whenever Possible" might be more representative.
"Bitmap for Embedded Fonts" would also then be amended, perhaps to "Bitmap for Embedded Fonts Whenever Possible", although this is becoming a bitmap of a mouthful! :-)

Regards,
David

Hi David,

We recently updated the online manual to make the explanations clearer, and this has not made it into the downloadable PDF version yet.

You are right that those explanations are more descriptive, but they are also too long for where they are displayed.
I will pass those remarks to my colleagues so that we can think of any possible improvements here, but I can't tell if or when this might get changed.

Regards,
Stefan

Hi, Stefan.
I take your point about needing to ensure the tickbox labels do not get too long.
Having said that, the suggested "Bitmap Whenever Possible" is a similar length to the existing "Bitmap for Embedded Fonts", so it may not be too extreme.
Nevertheless, it's certainly not the only alternative. Shorter would be "Bitmap If Possible", which is only marginally longer than "Bitmap Always". The other label would then become "Bitmap for Embedded Fonts If Possible" which is on the long side, but I'm still not sure is unfeasible.
And yet another alternative would be to have tooltips/hints pop up upon mouseover (although this option would probably end up requiring a major overhaul of all GUI's for stylistic consistency).
At the end of the day, these are all just suggestions, and I realise that compromises are sometimes unavoidable.
—DIV

thanks for your understanding - rest assured we will take your comments on board.