"PostScript Version 3 supports direct HTML printing " Huh?!?
I'm still a little unclear on the value of FlashPix and Imaging for
Internet. Insofar as FlashPix allows prepress users to 'markup' lores
images for later, remote, hires reprocessing (brightness, contrast, etc),
fine -- why a new image format, then?
RK
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October 7, 1996 10 AM ET
HP will enhance
Web printing
By Scott Berinato
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To address the poor quality of images printed from the World Wide Web,
Hewlett-Packard Co. will introduce at Comdex next month a beta version of a
plug-in software package called Imaging for Internet.
The plug-in is based on the FlashPix image file format developed by HP,
Microsoft Corp., Eastman Kodak Co. and Live Picture Inc. Introduced last
June, the file format has been endorsed by browser vendors Netscape
Communications Corp. and Microsoft as a standard for Internet imaging.
The current state of Web printing is primitive, and the growing use of
corporate intranets to share information is exacerbating the problem, said
Adina Levin, a consultant at CAP Ventures, in Boston. "Right now, going to
an intranet sets you back a decade--to the days of DOS, really--in terms of
printing resources like fonts, color and WYSIWYG printing," Levin said.
Imaging for Internet consists of a plug-in client and a server module. The
plug-in allows low-resolution display of FlashPix pictures, but the server
module increases resolution when a hard copy is produced. HP's software
also implements FlashPix's layered structure to retain resolution when
users crop, rotate and zoom in on pictures.
The plug-in client beta will be free and available at HP's home page.
Imaging for Internet 1.0 is due in the second quarter of 1997, said
officials in Palo Alto, Calif. Pricing and distribution have not been set
for the server mode.
Adobe Systems Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., also plans to tackle HTML
printing in its PostScript 3 page description language, which is due in OEM
products in mid-1997. PostScript Version 3 supports direct HTML printing
and incorporates a job ticketing language that allows manipulation of the
page structure, sources said.
Xionics Document Technologies Inc., of Burlington, Mass., expects to
release next spring details on its IPS 2000 architecture, which analysts
said is a combination of a PostScript 3 clone and PCL6 in one graphics
kernel.
October 4, 1996 5:30 PM ET
Printing improvements in store for Internet Explorer 4.0
By Scott Berinato
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Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer 4.0 will include several enhancements
that improve HTML printing.
Among the next-generation browser's new features will be drag-and-drop
printing as well as enhanced frames and tables printing, one source close
to the company said.
IE 4.0 will also enable background printing and selective printing, which
allows users to print only portions of a document -- a feature many
Internet and intranet users have been waiting for.
Explorer will also utilize recursive pages, meaning that when a user prints
an HTML page with a table of contents, the browser will automatically print
the linked pages in the table of contents.
"Selective printing is long overdue," said Adina Levin, a consultant with
CAP Ventures in Boston. "And recursive printing is nice because it connects
[printers and the Internet]. It's one example of the type of work that
needs to be done to bridge these two worlds."
As part of the World Wide Web Consortium, Microsoft has been working to
enhance Web authorship, which would allow HTML document creators to code
pages for optimum printing, the source said.