[open-beos-printing] Re: Updates?

Julun wrote:

Hi Philippe,


 >> I really fail to see why printing in PDF format should be handle

differently because users may wants to Save As PDF more often. I stand
corrected by Michael about the printer target popup, which means saving as 
PDF is already available at one click for users.


I always hated the fact that one has to _Print_ a pdf file, while
it always feels as _Save_ from a user point of view.
This is indeed a valid point from a users perspective. "Printing" or "exporting" a PDF file from a programs native internal format is a layer of abstraction created by technical issues of how the PDF is created that need not be presented to the user. In the users world a file is file, whether it is PDF, PNG, JPEG, DOC, etc. In every situation the File menu Save As... menu item is the appropriate place for accessing this functionality. And everyone can attest to the fact that a file dialog being presented during a Print command is an awkward and confusing interface. The question then is whether PDF file creation should even be in the realm of printing? Perhaps it should more appropriately be a BeOS Translator plugin... even if it uses printing API's underneath, the user never needs to know this. 

-----------------------------
Simon Gauvin
Ph.D. Candidate
Faculty of Computer Science
Dalhousie University, Canada
http://www.cs.dal.ca/~gauvins

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