alt Hacker NewsVery cool, thanks for putting this up.
Couple of observations:
- the page size drop down doesn't display any units (e.g. "6 x 9"). I assume there're all in inches but it would be a little more helpful if it said so and/or included a common name (e.g. US Letter) if one exists for that size.
- you might want to look into page imposition[1] something that's basically essential for any kind of stitched binding (as opposed to "perfect binding"). Full-blown imposition software is often ridiculously expensive and can have quite a few options so it's definitely both an engineering and UI challenge. In the meantime, Bookbinder JS[2] is a great site that I think runs entirely client side and can transform any PDF.
1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imposition
2: https://momijizukamori.github.io/bookbinder-js/?paperSize=LE...
Replies
Thanks, I hadn't seen bookbinder.js, that looks really neat. I'll remember that if I get back into sewn binding.
I personally like to use standard A4/letter size paper and print one page per side and do perfect binding. Printing two A5 pages on A4 was my original approach, but then the grain direction is wrong for standard computer paper and the pages come out too stiff.
I think the quality is good enough for me, but I definitely understand the appeal of sewn binding.
If imposition was something for this site to add, I'd recommend doing it through LaTeX with the pdfpages package[1]. You generate the pdf normally, then re-lay it out using a second latex file dedicated to just doing the imposition. It's how I've done all of my imposition so far, and its more than powerful enough to do the kind of simple page layout that you would want to do with a home printer.
Maybe more complex layout might be needed if you happened to have a printer that could handle like, A0 size paper, or continuous rolls, which would give more flexibility in terms of the number of ways you could fit your pages onto the stock material. for the hobbyist though? More than good enough.
1: https://ctan.org/pkg/pdfpages?lang=en