Re: can't set margins on Custom paper sizes

From: John Selby (a.selby@paradise.net.nz)
Date: Wed May 22 2002 - 18:41:39 EDT

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    "Brian J. Murrell" asked:-

    When I try to define a Custom paper size and then try to adjust the
    margins on the Margin tab, I invariably get a dialog that says:

      The margins selected are too large to fit on the page.

    Example dimensions and margins:

    Width: 163mm
    Height 91mm
    Orientation: Landscape
    Top: 5.0mm
    Bottom: 3.7mm
    Left: 3.7mm
    Right: 2.5mm
    Header: 0
    Footer: 0

    will yield this error (as will just about any other size).

    Is there something I am missing here?
    ------------------------------------------------------
    Brian,

    I have tested this with Abiword 1.01 and the error message is as you say.

    The problem seems to be that your top and bottom margins are impractical,
    and are rather too SMALL.
    (It doesn't help when the error message says that the margins are too LARGE
    I guess).

    I find that the smallest top or bottom margin I can get Abiword to accept is
    about 8 mm, which seems reasonable when you take into account the realities
    of what part of a page most printers can successfully access?

    If you really want these small margins you can bully Abiword into accepting
    them by setting them on screen in edit mode, by dragging the relevant margin
    markers to where you want them; this seems to override the error message.
    However this method won't necessarily be successful in producing a
    satisfactory print (probably depends on your printer).

    There is also a small bug in the error generation from margin settings in
    the page setup dialogue box (I've reported the bug but can't readily find
    the bug number at the moment). The bug is perhaps associated with the error
    message being generated at the wrong part of a loop.

    To demonstrate this, set a margin (say top margin) at 8 mm and close the
    dialogue box. Then go back and set it to 6 mm and close the dialogue box.
    An "error" has been generated, but the dialogue box will close without
    complaining, and the 6 mm setting will be applied.

    Now go back and open the page setup box again, and close it without making
    any change; the previously generated error message will appear and you will
    be returned to the setup box when you close the error message.

    In short, you can generate the margins you want (directly from the page
    setup box) if you wish, but you have to get them all to your requirements
    the first time; attempting to use the page setup box again if any margin is
    outside Abiword's rules, will fail. However, on-screen adjustments can be
    made anytime and you can use the page setup box to check the dimensions you
    have set, so long as you then close the page setup box with "cancel" instead
    of "OK".

    Cheers, John selby.

    PS Wouldn't it be nice if messages distributed in this user group had
    posting instructions at the bottom of each message? I suspect most of us
    intuitively use the "Reply" function to reply to a post, and that doesn't
    send the message to the group.

    __________________

    John Selby

    selby@paradise.net.nz
    __________________

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