On 27-1-2011 11:41, John Culleton wrote:
The question of page dimensions can be very confusing for the raw beginner. I suggest the something like the following as a lead in: ----------------------------------------------------------- For a printed page we really have to deal with three different sets of dimensions. The body of the text exclusive of headers, footers etc. is called the type block. In TeX the measurements of the type block are called \hsize and \vsize. When text is being laid out each paragraph is generally no wider than the \hsize and when \vsize is exceeded the page is ended and a new one is started.
hsize and vsize are more general and depend on where one accesses them, setting them will seldom work out well as they get set (and synchronized) depending on \setuplayout asignments
The actual page size of the finished document is measured with \pdfpagewidth and \pdfpageheight. For most documents this is the last set of dimensions needed. In a few cases "camera ready copy" is required which means that the final printed page image is centered on a larger piece of paper stock, often with trim marks indicating the boundaries of the page size.
pdfpagewidth and pdfpageheight are not to be used directly in context, \setuppapersize is to be used; setting the dimensions directly will have side effects
For example here are the dimensions for a book recently printed: hsize =4.25 in vsize =7 in
pdfpagewidth = 6 in pdfpageheight = 9 in
stockwidth = 8.5 in stockheight = 11 in.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com | www.pragma-pod.nl -----------------------------------------------------------------