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FEEFHS

EAST EUROPEAN MAP ROOM

INFREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
ABOUT OUR MAPS

© copyright 1997-1999 by FEEFHS; All rights reserved

Latest Update: 16 June 2001

Infrequently Asked Question (from Bert L): When I tryed to print out the entire FEEFHS online map of the Ukraine, it prints the first page (the western part) beautifully but the second page that appeared from the printer was blank. Likewise, when I ordered only page 2 printed, the printer delivered a blank page. Can you help?

Answer to Question #1: We think the problem is is a two-fold one.

1) A problem with your browser and maybe it's printer software. All of the map scans are relatively small in the original size. For example, the scan of the Baltics is probably only about 4 x 4 inches. When shown on the screen, however, they are much larger, which is an attribute of the browsers, and not the original scan. It is believed this is because screen resolution is so much lower than printing or scanning resolution, and that to get a good visual image, the browsers have to increase the size of the image on the screen.

2) Also there is a problem with insufficient printer RAM. Most home printers only have a few megs of RAM. If you do the math with that .jpg image - really substantial RAM is needed - enuf to require a commercial digital graphics printer to do it for you.

We suggest you:
We believe the original file should be transmitted intact, along with its proper size, and if viewed and printed from a graphics program (like Adobe PhotoShop or MacroMedia Fireworks), it may print out in its original size if you have sufficient RAM.
  • If not, take the diskette to AlphaGraphics or KInko's or a good commercial digital graphics firm and ask them to print it for you.
    We feel very sure that the problem is not with the maps as posted. When the scans are read back into PhotoShop, the "image size" selection in Adobe PhotoShop gives the true, correct size of the image, and prints out the image at that size on that size on a laser printer (resulting, of course, in an almost illegible image at 300 dpi). This is always very different from the size of the image viewed on the screen, however.

    This has also been confirmed with an experiment. The Moravia map was viewed through the AOL web browser, and then an attempt ws made to print it. On screen, the image was approximately 8 x 11 inches. When we printed from the AOL browser, the printed image was about 4 1/2 x 7 inches. AOL's browser automatically saves all images to disk, so the file was renamed "moravia.jpg" on disk and then viewed in PhotoShop. The "Image Size" option in PhotoShop was viewed, and sure enough, the size registered in the .JPG file was the _original_ size of the scan and the image on the map: 3 x 4.3 inches.

    So the printing size problems that some people are having are clearly due to the way browsers treat the files, and probably also due to communications between printer and browser and insufficient printer RAM. They do not have anything to do with the original scans or the images as posted in FEEFHS Map Room, though, which retain information about the original size of the image.

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