Why is defalut page size 10" x 7.5"?

  • Thread starter Thread starter GodfreyD
  • Start date Start date
G

GodfreyD

Why is the default page size 10" x 7.5", not 11" x 8.5"? I realize I can set
it to letter size, but would like to know the rational for the default
setting.
 
Steve Rindsberg said:
I suspect this goes WAAAYY back to PPT's origins as a Mac program.

The early Laserwriter printers had so little memory available that they
played
a kind of tradeoff game ... they'd give up memory from the "page buffer"
(the
RAM that held the dots prior to printing them) in exchange for more memory
to
hold and process graphics/fonts/text.

When they gave away page buffer it meant that they couldn't print as large
an
area and if memory serves, the smaller area was on the order of 10 x 7.5"

You can see my gray hair and wrinkles and hear my shaky voice from where
yer
sittin' can'tcha sonny? ;-)
Click to expand...


I was just thinking, "Steve is scary."

LOL!

And here I was thinking it probably had to do with needing margins...but PPT
adds those anyway, so that's not it. Yeah, Steve...you are scary.

bwahahahaha
 
I thought it’s because of automatic margins in PP. Powerpoint unlike Word
doesn’t have options to change the margins and this makes sense because PP is
primary a presentation software not printing software so 10X7.5 is just the
printing area with fixed margins. For most countries that use A4 and metric
system this default printable area is different.
 
It does refer specifically to the Laserwriter (and Imagewriter), so I
think my guess is a fairly good one.
Click to expand...

If not fairly... at least fairy?

;-)

Come on... You're *always* right! (or is it rite?)

;-)

And... "si non e vero, e ben trovato."

mindItIsItalianToday

Enric
 
Thanks to all for your feedback. Also very impressed that Enric found that
'86 Presenter documentation.

I wonder if Microsoft will ever change the standard size to 11" x 8.5" since
the reasons for the 10" x 7.5" size are outdated. I encounter a lot of
problems dealing with reports done in the default setting that need to be
printed on 11" x 8.5" paper.
 
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