Re: [tlug] Re: "Password on localhost"

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Curt Sampson writes:

 > (I don't use OpenOffice for originating documents except under very rare
 > circumstances; I find the user interface a total PITA.)

Uh, did that really need to be said?  I didn't really think you were
doing that because you *wanted* to!

 > >  >     2. Viewing the same web page in Linux Firefox versus NetBSD Firefox,
 > >  >     both running on my NetBSD laptop and using the same X server, gives
 > >  >     me quite noticably different textual output (different fonts,
 > >  >     different formatting).
 > > 
 > > That's no bug, that is a feature.
 > 
 > I'd be curious as to what is useful or good about this "feature."

Precisely that different programs are allowed to render the same
document differently.  Go visit the csszengarden site and be
enlightened.  Or just grab the book off your shelf and be
reenlightened ... knowing you I bet you already have it.

If you want pixel-perfect rendering, use PNG or PDF or even TeX.

Like most Japanese arts, you demonstrate your mastery of standard
creation more by what you leave unspecified than by what you specify.

 > > Yah, but AFAICT DVI and Postscript really are device-independent.
 > 
 > Yes. But you've inadvertantly hit on the exact point here: DVI and
 > Postscript are both device-independent, but you cannot arbitrarially
 > convert one to the other with perfect accuracy.

Well, in fact *I* can, since the only dvi driver I ever use is dvips.
(Not quite true, I do occasionally use xdvi.)  For my purposes, they
are identical.

But, in general, I already acknowledged that point, and asked if you
meant something else.