Subject: Street Atlas Maps to Web (long)
Date: Sep 28 20:17:23 1999
From: Jerry Blinn - avisys at mindspring.com


Noel and Michael are exactly right, using Print Screen gets the image.
However...

With Print Screen, at the initial capture you are limited to what's on
screen, and at screen resolution. Your options beyond that point are
terribly limited because you have an inflexible bitmap screen image.
Resizing, wherever you go with it, usually results in less than
satisfactory results because the software has to "invent" pixels to create
what it thinks you want. (I have rejected Print Screen so many times over
the years that it never even occurred to me for this application -- I
should not have had so narrow a mind.)

By capturing a "print" output to EPS file using a PostScript device, you
have a "vector" file which can be resized without limit, always retaining
quality. (You could make that image 100 feet, or .1 inch, wide with no loss
of quality.) That process is free -- you need no additional software to
capture the map, since the driver is supplied by Microsoft. (And you don't
have to crop off all the window and tool bar artifacts on all four sides.)

The problem with the EPS vector approach is that not all software can
accept it (to eventually create a GIF file for the web). But if you have
access to the right software, it is a far superior approach. (Since Noel
uses Photoshop already, I'd suggest that he fire up a Postscript driver and
improve his flexibility.)

If a user does not have Photoshop, or one of the other more capable (and
expensive) packages, then the Print Screen method is the way to go --
accepting the inherent compromises. All you need is LView Pro or something
like that -- you don't even need the intermediate step of Paint.

Jerry Blinn
Silverdale
EMail: avisys at mindspring.com
Web: www.avisys.net