Proform Troubleshooting

Which Desktop Publishing Software to Use?

The ideal traits for a DTP system to use for preparation of software for use with Proform are:

Understands printer capabilities well
Knows what fonts each printer can do
Tries to utilize printer resident fonts
Does NOT attempt to download printer fonts
Displays a good representation of the final result
Creates compact PCL which utilizes printer features efficiently

Word Perfect 5.0, 5.1, 6.0, 6.1

These are the best and cleanest to use for creating Proform templates when using the WP printer drivers.

Microsoft Word

Word can be used with some important caveats:

There are a few identified non-true type fonts; you must use these. Otherwise, it will try to shovel a true-type font out the door, and being really "smart", it will only send those font characters it thinks is needed for the page in question.
It has the annoying habit of setting line spacing to 4 lines per inch. This is irrelevent to its normal operation, and for Proform field fill forms, BUT it does play havoc with letterhead forms - it ends up being double spaced. You have to go into the template and patch it back to 8 lines per inch.

Windows Write

We have never gotten the built-in Windows software to generate any decent templates.

Ventura Publisher

We have seen VP do some really annoying things in its printer output in relation to use with Proform, but we can't remember specifics.

If your form is so detailed that you don't want to try to lay it out with these tools, you have several other choices we are aware of:

Omnipage

This can work well if you are trying to scan printed forms, but some of the printer drivers are downright diabolical. The Laserjet III driver seems much cleaner than Laserjet IV.

ECPAGE

Ecpage is a simple DOS text mode program which allows you to define each PCL element, be it a line, text, shaded box, whatever. It then generates the simplest PCL to create the result. It can be tedious to use, but for very complex forms it might be the best. Here is a copy; perhaps you can find a newer one elsewhere: ecpage.zip

Jetform

This provides a WYSIWYG view with some of the forms smarts of ECPAGE. Some clients doing really complex forms have switched to it from ECPAGE.