Re: setting left margin in PDF output of ORG file

[John Hendy <jw.hendy@gmail.com>]

On Mon, Apr 28, 2014 at 8:58 AM, Michael Strey <mstrey@strey.biz> wrote:
>
> On 2014-04-25, John Hendy wrote:
>> I have to ask: is whatever was once considered the golden ratio for
>> text-to-whitespace in printed material, or even used by Gutenberg
>> himself for proper typesetting considered relevant/best practice
>> today?
>
> Yes, at least partly.  "Verachtet mir die alten Meister nicht!" (Do not
> condemn the old masters!) -- Richard Wagner

Fair enough, but let's not forget that "the old masters" of the
medical profession around that time were practicing bloodletting.

>
>> Default Org -> LaTeX article looks *ugly as all hell* to me.
>
> Check the Komascript classes.
>
>> Other than theoretical principle, is there evidence that readers
>> prefer the look of the default LaTeX article sizing?
>
> Beyond all aesthetic meanings, there are some practical aspects that are
> valid for all presentations of text to readers.  The most important rule
> is that the number of characters per line shall not exceed 70.  Together
> with the chosen font, its size, and tracking, this rule defines the
> width of the type area.  Together with the interlinear space, this rule
> is relevant for the readability.  The longer the line, the larger (but
> not to large!) the interlinear space.
>

This is more what I was looking for, especially if there have been
some studies on something like reading speed, comprehension, or
perhaps some quantifiable measure of eye fatigue. After you wrote
this, I definitely recognize that almost every journal, magazine, and
newspaper article is in column format. I don't work in academia or
write journal articles, but I do work at a very large technology
company (manufacturing, consumer goods, advanced materials, etc., not
software) and I've never seen a column formatted internal technical
report.

So my comment was more about inquiring why these conventions aren't
followed if they're so vastly superior. I'd have figured I'd run into
at least *some* teacher/professor at some point in my life who
requested/suggested/taught about the benefits of fixed
character-per-line typesetting?

> Thus for printed papers where the most economical use of paper is
> important, a multi-column layout is the way to go to get the smallest
> margins.

Also makes sense, and I hadn't thought about that -- default LaTeX
just spits out an island of text some several inches in from all edges
of the page, which never made sense to me (unless maybe I was writing
a book, as that's the sort of look in connotes).


John

>
>
> --
> Michael Strey
> www.strey.biz
>