FORMS LAYOUT CONSIDERATIONS
Summary
Optimize form generation in the following manner:
•
Use lines and boxes rather than characters of the form
element font, whenever possible.
•
Avoid placing too many small characters in one area of the
page.
•
Avoid overlapping (superimposing) lines or boxes.
•
Avoid overlapping characters to achieve bolding or other
effects. Use the correct font whenever possible.
•
Avoid using too many dotted or broken lines because they
create too much overhead in the printing process. You
receive a displayed message during compilation each time a
broken or dotted line has been defined.
•
Avoid too many font switches on the same text line. This
creates overhead in the printing process.
•
Avoid drawing unneeded lines across the longest side of the
physical page.
FDL statistics
If a form is successfully compiled, the following FDL statistics are
displayed on the summary sheet.
•
Size of the source output file (FSL)
•
Size of the printable form file (FRM)
•
Size of the form image buffer
•
Amount of font memory used by the form.
Using boxes
You may draw boxes with a single BOX command, or construct
them with commands on a line-by-line basis.
A line density problem can occur if a single BOX command is
used to specify a box that is adjoined to another box by a single
side. When two BOX commands are issued in this manner, one
line of a box is superimposed over another along the adjoined
side. Since two lines are drawn between the same pair of
coordinates, a line density problem may occur.
When to use the BOX command
To avoid this situation, use the BOX command only for the
following conditions when designing a form:
•
The box is fully isolated from any other lines
•
The line type of a box is different from any other lines that
share its boundaries (for example a SOLID 2 box sharing a
small portion of a SOLID 1 edge, as illustrated in Figure 5-4).
5-6
XEROX 4850/4890 HIGHLIGHT COLOR LPS FORMS CREATION REFERENCE
