Software that makes placemats

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JacobH
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:A good text editor is a boon, and it should be one that understands PostScript. On a Mac I have used Alpha X, and am now testing Aquamacs Emacs. For a PC perhaps use NotePad++, the specification of which looks encouraging, though the program has not been tested by me.
There are, of course, versions of improved emacs available for Windows and other operating systems :).
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

jdaw1 wrote:Making Your First Placemat: Advice for Beginners
JacobH wrote:There are, of course, versions of improved emacs available for Windows and other operating systems :).
Emacs is an editor for heavy-weight geeks, and hence unsuitable for a goodly proportion of ‟Beginners”.

Proceed with caution.
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JacobH
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by JacobH »

jdaw1 wrote:
jdaw1 wrote:Making Your First Placemat: Advice for Beginners
JacobH wrote:There are, of course, versions of improved emacs available for Windows and other operating systems :).
Emacs is an editor for heavy-weight geeks, and hence unsuitable for a goodly proportion of ‟Beginners”.

Proceed with caution.
Indeed!I was hoping you would follow the links, so as to complete a rather silly joke about text editors (c.f. Wikipedia ‟Editor Wars”). :wink:
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Sorry, I missed that ‘joke’.

The beginner’s stuff was so popular (i.e., I though it was a good idea) that I’ve added it to the main manual page.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

There’s an updated version of the code. Most recent changes:
  • ShowDecanterLabels renamed to MakeDecanterLabels.
  • FixNumRows replaced with NumRowsMin and NumRowsMax.
  • Bug fixes relating to the /Gaia layout.
Share and enjoy.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Again, a new version of PostScript placemat code is available from the www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.html.

One change:
  • Slight strengthening of the meaning of the /SameTitleLength element of SameSizeTitlesIfAllOf, such that when activated longer titles cannot be larger.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

An extra page has been added to the manual, Glasses placemat: choosing a page size.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

On [url=http://dat.erobertparker.com/bboard/showthread.php?t=204202]eRobertParker.com[/url] jdaw1 wrote:As some readers of this fine bulletin board might perhaps already know, I am a regular arranger of and attendee at port tastings. At such events it helps, it really helps, to have a clearly-labelled spot for every glass. Without same, as the evening progresses, confusion comes closer. of course, such placemats should be thoroughly functional, elegant, and occasionally touched with a little playfulness.

I have written a piece of software that makes such placemats. The software is available from my website: www.jdawiseman.com/papers/placemat/placemat.html for the manual, which links to the PostScript code. Cost: free, that being £0 = $0 = €0 = Â¥0. It’s not even freemium: the premium version is the free version. It’s just that, having gone to the trouble of writing the code, I feel it should be used more and more widely. Please help yourself.

Some examples of output:
  • 2009.06.11, an ornate placemat, perhaps overly ornate, for a blind tasting.
  • 2009.04.18, some great vintages of Taylor, Fonseca, Warre.
  • 2009.03.20, an ‘emergency’ tasting of some younger bottles.
  • 2009.02.13, a Graham vertical.
  • 2009.01.30, a giant horizontal of 1970 ports. There are ten pages per person three for glasses, two for tasting notes, for each of two sessions.
  • 2009.01.15 a playful rather than elegant design for an informal gathering of people, each of whom was to bring a bottle or two.
  • 2009.01.03 and 2009.01.04, a two-round emergency consisting mostly of port from 1985.
And if you do good things with it, post here to show off. And if you get stuck, then, time permitting, I might help post here or contact me via email.
I rather liked the ‟thoroughly functional, elegant, and occasionally touched with a little playfulness”. It is the objective.

There is also a new version, fixing bugs far more obscure than would bother most users.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

The software has been improved again, adding a new feature that makes place-name pages, as suggested by Alex B.
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For a more realistic example, see the last twelve pages of www.jdawiseman.com/port/20091002_warre.pdf, prepared for the forthcoming Warre vertical.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Help wanted. I’m not totally confident about the new feature.

The question is, one fold or three. As-is they’re designed for one fold, but that might mean that the corners curl (please test with your printer paper). Should it be a three-fold model? And if so, how far up is the first fold? Folds at one-sixth, one-half and five-sixths of the height? Help please.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Added a parameter PlaceNamesFirstAndThirdFoldsFromEdge. If this is 0 then it’s one-fold; otherwise it determines the distance of the extra folds from the top and bottom edges.
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Glenn E. »

jdaw1 wrote:Help wanted. I’m not totally confident about the new feature.

The question is, one fold or three. As-is they’re designed for one fold, but that might mean that the corners curl (please test with your printer paper). Should it be a three-fold model? And if so, how far up is the first fold? Folds at one-sixth, one-half and five-sixths of the height? Help please.
I use fairly sturdy paper in my little ink-jet printer, so the one fold version seems fine. However I suspect that the three fold version would be better using standard copier paper, especially in more humid climates.
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SushiNorth
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by SushiNorth »

jdaw1 wrote:Added a parameter PlaceNamesFirstAndThirdFoldsFromEdge. If this is 0 then it’s one-fold; otherwise it determines the distance of the extra folds from the top and bottom edges.
This is a good way to do it. Rarely does one desire one-fold (too tall anyway -- unless names need to be so large that drunk people can read them), instead two or even three folds are better. Three, you ask? Well the third fold is usually only an inch wide and used as a tab for taping to a primary side.
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

SushiNorth wrote:Rarely does one desire one-fold (too tall anyway -- unless names need to be so large that drunk people can read them), instead two or even three folds are better. Three, you ask? Well the third fold is usually only an inch wide and used as a tab for taping to a primary side.
My three-fold layout is slightly different. Always there is a fold in the middle. Also folds the same distance in (PlaceNamesFirstAndThirdFoldsFromEdge) from the top and bottom edges. If you want to tape, make this distance ≥72pt = 1 inch. But there oughtn’t to be a need to tape.
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Andy Velebil »

3 fold works best as you can add a little tape to keep it from opening up and falling flat. These name tags were great when we used them recently. Thanks julian!!
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

OK, a rethink. Help needed. Currently my design is symmetrical around the middle of the paper. That means that taping must happen at the bottom, underneath. But an asymmetrical layout (say, relative heights of 1:5:5:5) would allow the taping to happen on the inside of a visible face. That might give greater stability of posture.

Thoughts?
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Bug fix: the problem sometimes being difficult to see; sometimes being more serious. Please use latest version of software.
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Alex Bridgeman
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by Alex Bridgeman »

jdaw1 wrote:OK, a rethink. Help needed. Currently my design is symmetrical around the middle of the paper. That means that taping must happen at the bottom, underneath. But an asymmetrical layout (say, relative heights of 1:5:5:5) would allow the taping to happen on the inside of a visible face. That might give greater stability of posture.

Thoughts?
My preference would be for the symmetrical version. I will rarely tape the place names and would rely on the weight (little as it is) of the place name to hold the folds in place. If I did happen to have tape, I simply fold the paper so as to create space for a bit of tape on the underneath.
Top Ports in 2023: Taylor 1896 Colheita, b. 2021. A perfect Port.

2024: Niepoort 1900 Colheita, b.1971. A near perfect Port.
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g-man
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by g-man »

A suggestion for improvement for the software that makes placemats.

An addition of Wiseman's Rule #1 should be placed in the bottom corner next to the water check marks.
Disclosure: Distributor of Quevedo wines and Quinta do Gomariz
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SushiNorth
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by SushiNorth »

g-man wrote:A suggestion for improvement for the software that makes placemats.

An addition of Wiseman's Rule #1 should be placed in the bottom corner next to the water check marks.
Heh, beat me to it. I just tried adding it to the placemats from last night.

Two suggested innovations:

1) Portrait mode for the glasses, it makes it easier to place food and reach the water.

Code: Select all

/Orientation /Portrait def  % /Landscape /Portrait
2) Add water as a circle in the top left corner.

Code: Select all

Title: (H2O)
Subtitle: (Water)
Circle Array: [ (Drink at 4% = 5 pints per bottle) ]
FillText: (Hydrate thy self)
Question to the author of rule #1 -- what shall the circle say?
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

Title: either

Code: Select all

[(H) {SubscriptOn} (2) {SubscriptOff} (O)]
or

Code: Select all

[(H) {0 CurrentFontSize -0.5 mul rmoveto} /twosuperior {0 CurrentFontSize  0.5 mul rmoveto} (O)]
(in which the ‟0.5” might need some adjustment, depending on your choice of font).
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

g-man wrote:An addition of Wiseman's Rule #1 should be placed in the bottom corner next to the water check marks.
I don’t understand what you want. Do you mean an ‟edition” of Wiseman’s Second Rule i.e., its text; or did you really mean an ‟addition”?
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SushiNorth
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by SushiNorth »

jdaw1 wrote:H20 Subscript
worried it'll be mistaken for Hoopers 1920? was such a thing even made? :)
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jdaw1
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by jdaw1 »

SushiNorth wrote:
jdaw1 wrote:H20 Subscript
worried it'll be mistaken for Hoopers 1920? was such a thing even made? :)
1. I did not write that which you quoted.
2. All TPFers can surely see the difference between a ‘0’ and a ‘O’.
3. H = Hutcheson, which might be worse than Hooper.
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SushiNorth
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Re: Software that makes placemats

Post by SushiNorth »

jdaw1 wrote:1. I did not write that which you quoted.
Indeed, I should have said "Re Jdaw1: H20 with subscripting" to avoid confusion.
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