B.10 Improving output quality

When its drivers are set up properly, PSPP can produce output that looks very good indeed. The PostScript driver, suitably configured, can produce presentation-quality output. Here are a few guidelines for producing better-looking output, regardless of output driver. Your mileage may vary, of course, and everyone has different esthetic preferences.

• Width is important in PSPP output. Greater output width leads to more readable output, to a point. Try the following to increase the output width:
  • If you're using the ASCII driver with a dot-matrix printer, figure out what you need to do to put the printer into compressed mode. Put that string into the init-string setting. Try to get 132 columns; 160 might be better, but you might find that print that tiny is difficult to read.
  • With the PostScript driver, try these ideas:
    • Landscape mode.
    • Legal-size (8.5" x 14") paper in landscape mode.
    • Reducing font sizes. If you're using 12-point fonts, try 10 point; if you're using 10-point fonts, try 8 point. Some fonts are more readable than others at small sizes.

  Try to strike a balance between character size and page width.

• Use high-quality fonts. Many public domain fonts are poor in quality. Recently, URW made some high-quality fonts available under the GPL. These are probably suitable.
• Be sure you're using the proper font metrics. The font metrics provided with PSPP may not correspond to the fonts actually being printed. This can cause bizarre-looking output.
• Make sure that you're using good ink/ribbon/toner. Darker print is easier to read.
• Use plain fonts with serifs, such as Times-Roman or Palatino. Avoid choosing italic or bold fonts as document base fonts.