Software that makes placemats

[RAYC]

and would like to continue having the option of them being on the placemat itself.

Wilco.

But what if there aren’t placemats? What if it’s stickies? AHB’s suggestion of a water-box sticky is growing on me and it wouldn’t have to be stuck to a glass.

Or...

we could invest in some of these for use at tastings, obviating the need for tick boxes altogether!

[jdaw1]

The nurses would need tick-boxes.

[RAYC]

The nurses would need tick-boxes.

Good point.

In which case there is some merit to the solution of tick boxes on stickers (that are then stuck to the table/a glass/a watch face/ the back of your palm)

However, tick boxes on placemats should, i feel, be the default. There are not too many tastings that do not involve placemats.

[DRT]

Perhaps the nurses should only wear stickers?

[jdaw1]

However, tick boxes on placemats should, i feel, be the default. There are not too many tastings that do not involve placemats.

That is already agreed. We are dealing with the difficult cases, not the ordinary cases.

In which case there is some merit to the solution of tick boxes on stickers (that are then stuck to the table/a glass/a watch face/ the back of your palm)

Next I need to think about how to parametrise this.

[jdaw1]

Note to self: the fonts available on both home and work computers are as follows.

1. /Arial-Black
2. /Arial-BoldItalicMT
3. /Arial-BoldMT
4. /Arial-ItalicMT
5. /ArialMT
6. /ArialNarrow
7. /ArialNarrow-Bold
8. /ArialNarrow-BoldItalic
9. /ArialNarrow-Italic
10. /BookAntiqua
11. /BookAntiqua-Bold
12. /BookAntiqua-BoldItalic
13. /BookAntiqua-Italic
14. /BookmanOldStyle
15. /BookmanOldStyle-Bold
16. /BookmanOldStyle-BoldItalic
17. /BookmanOldStyle-Italic
18. /Calibri
19. /Calibri-Bold
20. /Calibri-BoldItalic
21. /Calibri-Italic
22. /Cambria
23. /Cambria-Bold
24. /Cambria-BoldItalic
25. /Cambria-Italic
26. /Candara
27. /Candara-Bold
28. /Candara-BoldItalic
29. /Candara-Italic
30. /Century
31. /CenturyGothic
32. /CenturyGothic-Bold
33. /CenturyGothic-BoldItalic
34. /CenturyGothic-Italic
35. /ComicSansMS
36. /ComicSansMS-Bold
37. /Consolas
38. /Consolas-Bold
39. /Consolas-BoldItalic
40. /Consolas-Italic
41. /Constantia
42. /Constantia-Bold
43. /Constantia-BoldItalic
44. /Constantia-Italic
45. /Corbel
46. /Corbel-Bold
47. /Corbel-BoldItalic
48. /Corbel-Italic
49. /Courier
50. /Courier-Bold
51. /Courier-BoldOblique
52. /Courier-Oblique
53. /CourierNewPS-BoldItalicMT
54. /CourierNewPS-BoldMT
55. /CourierNewPS-ItalicMT
56. /CourierNewPSMT
57. /CourierStd
58. /CourierStd-Bold
59. /CourierStd-BoldOblique
60. /CourierStd-Oblique
61. /FranklinGothic-Medium
62. /FranklinGothic-MediumItalic
63. /Garamond
64. /Garamond-Bold
65. /Garamond-Italic
66. /Georgia
67. /Georgia-Bold
68. /Georgia-BoldItalic
69. /Georgia-Italic
70. /Haettenschweiler
71. /Impact
72. /LucidaBright
73. /LucidaBright-Demi
74. /LucidaBright-DemiItalic
75. /LucidaBright-Italic
76. /LucidaConsole
77. /LucidaSans
78. /LucidaSans-Demi
79. /LucidaSans-DemiItalic
80. /LucidaSans-Italic
81. /LucidaSans-Typewriter
82. /LucidaSans-TypewriterBold
83. /LucidaSansUnicode
84. /MicrosoftSansSerif
85. /MinionPro-Bold
86. /MinionPro-BoldIt
87. /MinionPro-It
88. /MinionPro-Regular
89. /MonotypeCorsiva
90. /MSReferenceSansSerif
91. /MyriadPro-Bold
92. /MyriadPro-BoldIt
93. /MyriadPro-It
94. /MyriadPro-Regular
95. /Tahoma
96. /Tahoma-Bold
97. /TimesNewRomanPS-BoldItalicMT
98. /TimesNewRomanPS-BoldMT
99. /TimesNewRomanPS-ItalicMT
100. /TimesNewRomanPSMT
101. /Trebuchet-BoldItalic
102. /TrebuchetMS
103. /TrebuchetMS-Bold
104. /TrebuchetMS-Italic
105. /Verdana
106. /Verdana-Bold
107. /Verdana-BoldItalic
108. /Verdana-Italic

[DRT]

In the discussion thread Quantifying opacity

To assess, look at the circle text through about 1cm of port in a titled glass.

Perhaps we could devise a standard way of doing this by using a feature on the placemats?

Imagine a horizontal bar about 5mm wide running across the bottom of a Placemat or TN sheet. The bar is white at one end and black at the other, with all of the shades of grey in between. Written inside the bar, in a black font, are the gradients 0%, 10%, 20% ! 100%, the latter of which would be invisible.

Now place a tilted glass above one end of the bar and move it along until you cannot read the number below it. That is the opacity of the wine.

Would that work?

[jdaw1]

A good idea.

➊ I’d like the test to be based on something standard, recommended by those expert in this field.

âž‹ Different printer resolutions can make different greys appear quite different. Might that confound the attempt at standardisation? (Also, but I think less, different toners might be a problem.)

[RAYC]

Or invest in one of these...

[DRT]

A good idea.

➊ I’d like the test to be based on something standard, recommended by those expert in this field.

âž‹ Different printer resolutions can make different greys appear quite different. Might that confound the attempt at standardisation? (Also, but I think less, different toners might be a problem.)

On 2, provided the 100% was invisible or as good as, and the graduation of grey looked consistent, I don't think the variation of printer/toner would have much effect.

Perhaps if someone very clever could produce a test sheet we could each print a copy of it and bring them to the Bunghole to test whether or not the printer variation is significant. The test sheet does not have to part of the placemets.

[DRT]

Or invest in one of these...

I'm no expert, but I suspect it would be extremely difficult to embed one of those into Postscript.

[Alex Bridgeman]

A good idea.

➊ I’d like the test to be based on something standard, recommended by those expert in this field.

âž‹ Different printer resolutions can make different greys appear quite different. Might that confound the attempt at standardisation? (Also, but I think less, different toners might be a problem.)

On 2, provided the 100% was invisible or as good as, and the graduation of grey looked consistent, I don't think the variation of printer/toner would have much effect.

Perhaps if someone very clever could produce a test sheet we could each print a copy of it and bring them to the Bunghole to test whether or not the printer variation is significant. The test sheet does not have to part of the placemets.

I agree with DRT - if the 100% is invisible then this should be a self-balancing test.

An alternative approach might be to print a small ruler along one edge of the test; then to tip the glass and measure the distance from the rim at which the ruler becomes invisible. We could conduct some tests to develop an agreed standard.

[Glenn E.]

An alternative approach might be to print a small ruler along one edge of the test; then to tip the glass and measure the distance from the rim at which the ruler becomes invisible. We could conduct some tests to develop an agreed standard.

This is similar to (better than, really) the method I use to judge very young Ports. I judge pencil-widths visible at the rim, but a ruler would be more precise and allow for rating older Ports as well.

The key to this system is a consistent fill level in a standard shape glass. This might be difficult at a larger tasting where pour sizes are smaller, but I think it's a relatively easy system to use.

[SushiNorth]

In the sake world, clarity is measured by putting the sake into a white ceramic glass with two blue circles in the bottom (bullseye-like). At equal pour for each sake, the judge can differentiate clarity and color.

[jdaw1]

People might want to do the opacity test in different light, so will want to be able to hold it. Hence it must be on the TN sheets rather than the glasses sheets.

Is what is wanted anything like this?

[DRT]

Is what is wanted anything like this?

That is what I had in mind, although the version I had in my head had white on the left and black on the right.

I think the bar needs to be quite wide so that the precision with which you have to hit the right spot becomes easier.

[jdaw1]

That is what I had in mind, although the version I had in my head had white on the left and black on the right.

With numbers descending, 9 to 1? Ascending numbers seemed more natural to me, though it is easy to change.

[DRT]

That is what I had in mind, although the version I had in my head had white on the left and black on the right.

With numbers descending, 9 to 1? Ascending numbers seemed more natural to me, though it is easy to change.

No. White on the left = 0% (as in fully transparent) and black on the right being 100% (as in 100% opaque).

[jdaw1]

Are you sure? I think the ‟9” of ‟90%” needs to be against very pale grey. If you can’t see black on 10% grey, then the port is ≥90% opaque.

[jdaw1]

Updated test page.

[DRT]

That is what I meant when I asked...

Would that work?

You are, of course, correct. My idea was in the early stages of development when I wrote the first post. Thankfully there are people here who can take semi-flawed ideas and make them work

[jdaw1]

Updated test page.

[Glenn E.]

Is what is wanted anything like this?

That is what I had in mind, although the version I had in my head had white on the left and black on the right.

That's because you're Scottish.

Are you sure? I think the ‟9” of ‟90%” needs to be against very pale grey. If you can’t see black on 10% grey, then the port is ≈90% opaque.

The numbers are reversed to me. We're judging opacity, not the printed greyscale, so to me the numbers should indicate the opacity of the Port. I cannot be expected to do math while consuming alcohol. 

[jdaw1]

Printing on two laserprinters gives different apparent greys. As a form of standardisation, this is miserable. (Though within each printer, the four lines are very similar.)

[jdaw1]

To help those unwilling to open a PDF:

[Glenn E.]

Does anyone know, without resorting to significant effort, how many glasses the software can reasonably place on a 11" x 17" placemat?

I have done 11 glasses on standard US Letter (8.5" x 11") and that was fine. That leads me to believe that it might be possible to squeeze 4 rows of 6 glasses each onto an 11" x 17" placemat. Has anyone done that before?

[jdaw1]

There are separate pages describing: the choosing of the page size

• North American paper sizes:
  • !
  • 12→16: either split over multiple sheets of /USL, or /USL2 = US Ledger = 11″×17″

I have done 11 glasses on standard US Letter (8.5" x 11") and that was fine.

Eleven?! That's way too tight for glasses that aren't thimbles. You sure that wasn’t US Legal? For the Crusting Pipe glasses I now have a maximum of six on A4. Anyway, many such questions are answered by the following diagram.

[Glenn E.]

Eleven?! That's way too tight for glasses that aren't thimbles. You sure that wasn’t US Legal? For the Crusting Pipe glasses I now have a maximum of six on A4.

Hmm. That's possible, I guess. I'd have to pull it up (at home) to be sure. As I recall it was tight, but not so tight that the glasses were touching or even too close to pick up.

Thanks for the chart - that answers all of my questions nicely.

[jdaw1]

We tried the opacity test, from two different laser printers. The printers were too different, but both useless. Good experiment; bad result. Scrapped.

Opacity conversation continued in thread entitled Quantifying opacity in TNs.

[jdaw1]

For blind-tasting ‟What is it?” voting, typically the person who brought a bottle should not guess. Rectangles can be crossed out by setting VoteRecorderCrossedBox to code evaluating to a boolean, that code typically referring to WithinTitles and NameNum.

[RAYC]

Does this easily allow for occasions where one person brings blind bottles for him/herself but also for adoption by others (where that person obviously knows the identity of all bottles he/she is providing but the adopters know only the price they are paying and not the wine itself)?

[jdaw1]

VoteRecorderCrossedBox is code returning a boolean. Code can return true for any desired combination values of WithinTitles and NameNum. So it allows for any such occasion. Whether or not easily, hmmm, you tell me what form of parameters would be both flexible and easy?

[RAYC]

The fact that it allows is sufficient.

If it is not "easy" (by the standards of a non-programmer following your instructions), i would suggest that the default should be that crosses are not included (which is indeed already the case if i understand your post correctly).

[jdaw1]

Correct. Default is as-was.

[jdaw1]

Default slightly changed. Now true if the title = the name (e.g., bottle called ‟JDAW”, person called ‟JDAW”).

First draft of the placemats.

• Observe use of the VoteRecorderCrossedBox feature.

[jdaw1]

Readers might wish to comment on a putative new policy. I intend to post, near the end of each tasting’s arrangement thread, the changed parameters. So this might be fifty lines of code, thus formatted.

The thinking is that somebody who liked some feature could more easily see how it was done.

The code will be marked with the version of the placemat software, as things might not work exactly the same in later versions.

Comments? Objections? Improvements?

[DRT]

I think it would be better to post the code in this thread and link it to the appropriate tasting review.

[jdaw1]

I thought it better to post it near the placemats.

[DRT]

I thought it better to post it near the placemats.

Posting code in a post that is intended for organising a Port tasting might make people think we are geeks.

[jdaw1]

This thread is for discussion about the software. Perhaps this collection of code should go in a new thread in the Reference section?

[DRT]

This thread is for discussion about the software. Perhaps this collection of code should go in a new thread in the Reference section?

Or you could output the interesting code to the last page of the placemats file and it could be accessed by downloading the placemats?

[jdaw1]

This thread is for discussion about the software. Perhaps this collection of code should go in a new thread in the Reference section?

Or you could output the interesting code to the last page of the placemats file and it could be accessed by downloading the placemats?

That is fundamentally difficult. Sorry, no.

[jdaw1]

This thread is for discussion about the software. Perhaps this collection of code should go in a new thread in the Reference section?

∃ Parameters for the placemat software.

[jdaw1]

Note to self: a glass-by-glass version of FontSizesSetsGlassesPages is needed.

If there are bottles with labels like ‟Mz”, ‟SW”, ‟QH”, ‟QC”, and other bottles with labels like ‟JDAW”, ‟AHB”, ‟DRT”, the sizing of the two sets should be independent. Easiest would be to add flexiblity to FontSizesSetsGlassesPages, so that each element can be an array (in which case its glass-by-glass elements are used) or a non-array.

[jdaw1]

+CircletextsTryToResonateWithRays

The code as originally written was meant to produce one page of glasses, perhaps A4, perhaps A3. Modern usage is typically A4, with ≤6 glasses per page, and multiple pages. The default value of GlassesOnSheets has, rather belatedly, been adjusted to match this modern default behaviour. 

[jdaw1]

Also, perhaps a trivial detail but - is there a setting to define the width of any exclusion area on the glasses sheets between the outer ring of text as defined by circlearrays and the inner text defined by titles, belowtitles? In a couple of cases experimenting I found that the inner text can (virtually) meet the outer, and therefore by allowing optionally configurable decrease of the effective inner circle size (in which the title/belowtitle are sized and placed) by a small degree (say <=5%, configurable, or a fixed amount e.g. 1mm) might help clarity?

Done in the code, even though not in the manual: ExclusionAnnulusProportionInnerRadiusTitlesAboveBelow and ExclusionAnnulusProportionInnerRadiusOvertitles.

[JacobH]

Should the font selected for the place-mat have, in effect, built in negative kerning, in that some of the glyphs go over the y-axis, then there may be a clash between some letters and the lines on the question and other pages.

For example, the J in Jannon T Moderne Pro Italic overlaps the y-axis (in red) quite considerably:

kern2.png (5.05 KiB) Viewed 19876 times

This results in a clash when a placemat is generated using the font and my initials:

kern.png (2.33 KiB) Viewed 19876 times

I imagine the problem is only regularly encountered with Italic fonts but could be quite severe if one used a swashed one.

Ideally, I suppose, one would like the software to detect this negative spacing and compensate, but I am not sure if this is feasible or practical. I therefore flag it up for comments rather than as a bug.

[jdaw1]

Should the font selected for the place-mat have, in effect, built in negative kerning, in that some of the glyphs go over the y-axis, then there may be a clash between some letters and the lines on the question and other pages.

In some places the software establishes widths with PathBBox, a more accurate version of the built-in pathbbox. In other places it uses something like stringwidth pop, as called by StringWidthRecursive. The former is slower but correctly copes with the observed problem, and can become more widespread.

So the excellent observation is noted and will be acted upon, even if not for several weeks.

Your image suggests that the grey line is drawn after the names. That shouldn’t be happening: presumably your example is from a voting sheet, which therefore needs an extra fix.

[jdaw1]

Done in the code, even though not in the manual: ExclusionAnnulusProportionInnerRadiusTitlesAboveBelow and ExclusionAnnulusProportionInnerRadiusOvertitles.

Forgot to say: now mentioned in the manual.

[jdaw1]

In some places the software establishes widths with PathBBox, a more accurate version of the built-in pathbbox. In other places it uses something like stringwidth pop, as called by StringWidthRecursive. The former is slower but correctly copes with the observed problem, and can become more widespread.

Thinking further, which should be used? Let’s consider a swashed font, in which some letters have a tail that is meant to go under the previous letter. So for the text in a circle, that going under should be retained.

But for text-in-a-box (and, Titles-style, text-within-a-circle), it shouldn’t.

This is awkward for the circle-text in a straight line. The start and finish should be PathBBox-style, but the interior should be stringwidth-style. This will be fiddly.