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[Implemented] Document Units - Picas


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On 10. September 2018 at 10:17 AM, Gerard O said:

Re we talking about American pica's, French picas, or PostScript pica?

If we all understood ERZ correctly:

1 pica = 1 DTP Cicero = 12 pt = 12⁄72 inch* = 12 edobA PS points = 12 × Hell pt ≈ 12 ppt or pc or p

*1 Trump ″ = 25,400051 mm

 

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IT would be good to know if all the people asking were requesting the same measurement. I assumed they meant postscript pica 1/6 of an inch, but perhaps most of you have neem asking for American Picas 12/72.27 of inch (as used in TeX) Oh my

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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metric, inches, picas or whatever has to be continuously translated in computer measurements (computer screen size and resolution, printer density and size, typesetter measurements, size and density, etc...)

so the translatrion between traditional measurements is really unimportant, are only methods in an object or module or routine in the app.

but could be interesting, could be....
for people who use picas.... 
time passing .... lesser

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A US professional designer will find the lack of picas to be a show stopper. Typically we use computer picas 72 per inch. Your competitors both allow for setting a preference to use either computer picas (72/inch) or traditional picas (72.27/inch). For lack of a nail... the kingdom was lost. Yes it is that serious a deficiency!

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23 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

IT would be good to know if all the people asking were requesting the same measurement. I assumed they meant postscript pica 1/6 of an inch, but perhaps most of you have neem asking for American Picas 12/72.27 of inch (as used in TeX) Oh my

Looks to me like the Postscript pica.  I think we are asking (at least I am) for the DTP point (desktop publishing point) which is defined as 1/72 of an international inch (about 0.353 mm) and, as with earlier American point sizes, is considered to be 1/12 of a pica.  The pica measurement is so useful, because it corresponds so neatly with font sizes.  1p6 picas = 1/4 inch.  3p0 picas = 1/2 inch.  4p6 picas = 3/4 inch., 6p0 picas - 1 inch.  But there are lovely permutations, such as 1p3, 1p6, 1p9, etc.  Unit conversions include:  1 point in typographic units is equal to 1/12 picas; 1 point in imperial/US units is equal to 1/72 inch; 1 point in metric (SI units) is equal to 0.3528 mm.  

You are being so very nice about this.  We have such high hopes!!    


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This is an interesting discussion, but I have to ask: "Why does unit of measure matter?"

By way of examples (and to mirror some of what has already been said), personally I measure:
* walking/driving distances in miles;
* distances to nearby objects in feet;
* distances to further-away objects in metres;
* heights of buildings in storeys;
* heights of people in feet and inches;
* heights of small things in centimetres, or inches;
* my own weight in stones and pounds;
* weights of objects I might need to pick up in kilograms, or bags of sugar;
* weights of much bigger things in tons;
* milk in litres;
* beer in pints;
* large amounts of water in swimming pools;
* etc. etc. etc.

My point is that I use different units of measure for different things depending on what's most convenient.
So why not let people measure stuff on a page in picas if that's what is good for them?
Using picas might seem archaic to some people but hands and furlongs are pretty much only used in relation to horses nowadays but they are still used by people who still use them. Just because it's old doesn't mean that it's wrong to use it, and if it's convenient to use then why not allow it? (Points are probably just as old as picas - relative to more recent developments - but we still use them, so why not picas too?)

Personally I've never measured anything in picas but there should be nothing stopping me from doing so if it seems right to do so for a particular purpose.

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2 hours ago, GarryP said:

Why does unit of measure matter?

For example even professionals get mixed up with pica, ppt, dd etc. which results in mistakes. For example in Europe, strictly speaking, you should only use/communicate the metric system. Perhaps Affinity apps could change the whole global difficult situation with different systems, font sizes etc. some day. For example there are fonts with the same name but they result in different sizes. AD seems to be the first “vector” app that uses x, c, and a. A great start to make things more accurate and easier. Serif did not really use this for marketing since 2016. And did Serif talk with ISO or DIN?

BTW: If your feet/pounds are not the same in a different country/store you need an app but if you do not know anything about the difference the cake does not succeed, …

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Correct GarryP, there is a benefit to using the units that are most suited to the job. We want this because we have learned through experience that it makes work faster and less fatiguing. The difference is so great that I vividly remember (from 30 years ago) the first time I changed ruler units in PageMaker to match the leading grid. I was working on a publication that I regularly produced and I thought I had gotten very fast with it, but customizing the ruler cut about 20% off the production time. What I remember most was my high energy level at the end of the day. It felt great!

So in addition to picas, I suggest supporting custom ruler units, as can be set via preferences in InDesign.

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26 minutes ago, Eugene Tyson said:

Any sign of agates? Or would they take affence? 

Are you trying to ruby someone up the wrong way? :/

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How about light-seconds while we are at it?  :9_innocent:

Right-clicking on the ruler to change measurements would certainly be nice.

Custom measurement units a nice plus, but not sure how well the point/pica system would translate to that scheme unless custom formatting of the values was also provided for (12p3 may not be well-taken by a system that only expects a single numeric value to convert)?

 

I also came across this discussion which tells us that this question is not unique to this forum: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/329619

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