OK, so this might be an odd question...

With the plethora of fan made stuff out there, and plenty more coming i'm sure (including my own), I was wondering:

What Page Size would you prefer things to be produced in?

The Books are 11x8.5 inchs. Which I gather is standard US Letter size. (Or the typical, standard everyday paper size I believe?)

I am from the UK, where we use the ISO216 Standard, or A4 paper. Which is 8.3 by 11.7 (So, slightly longer and slightly narrower.

The FFG Character sheets are also in US Letter size. Most people probably dont notice this, as they probably print them "Fit to Page", and the larger side margins (probably by design) mean you don't 'loose' anything.

The blank pages I have acquired are in Letter size, meaning I need to either 'stretch' the image (not a HUGELY noticeable amount), or cut and clone bits... so in the case of covers, I end up with a 'taller' cover image than 'official' products.

SO! My question is...

What would YOU the masses, prefer as a 'Page size' for your fan supplements?

(And do you care? Does it matter? I have no idea if A4 paper exists in the states)

A4 or US Letter (And thus the same size as official products) ?

aaaaaand....GO!

RD

Being Stateside, I'd prefer Letter. Is there a simple way to pagenate and output for both, though? Possibly using bleeds and only putting text in a slightly smaller "common display area"?

In all honesty, its not a HUGE issue.

Black Sun Rising (The adventure I wrote with GM Hooly) was designed in 8.3 by 11.7, which is A4. (Hooly is in Aus, I presume they use A4- ISO216). It just means when printing 'fit to page' you might get a white edge at the top and bottom, or down the edges (cant work it out on the fly)...

The margins in official publications are large enough to soak up the difference, and if you do "Fit to Page" it shrinks it down to fit everything on the page.

Which means, When *I* (UK based), print a Character sheet, I get a white line at the top and bottom of the page. (Like watching a Wide Screen film on a non wide screen TV).

I was just curious if anyone had noticed, of if they had a preference.

For example, if I was making Supplements in A4, and people wanted to print them, and have them the same size as their books.... they wouldn't be, of if they cut them down, the would either need to cut into the graphics (marginally, probably unnoticeably), or have white lines.

For me, because I am a perfectionist, Id want them the same size as the books published... which is US Letter, not my native A4.

Could I propose an alternate solution? No matter which page size you choose, you're gonna piss someone off.

Instead, why not just agree on dimensions for a common printed area, like 10.5" x 8"? Keep all the *actual* material in there.

If you need a background pattern, place the background pattern in the common area, and provide margin templates for the separate sizes.

Personally, I don't think fan material really needs that background crap anyway because it doesn't do anything beyond wasting tons of ink. Plain white is perfectly sufficient.

I get the print issues, i personally wouldnt want to print a full colour page, but I also like my work to 'look' good.

I really wouldnt have an idea how to create a publication that has various size options.

Even though I am UK based and thus use A4 size, I like the idea that my own works are the same size as official publications. Even though I cant print them at the "correct" size.

I ask to see if people desire a size, or a totally ambivalent to it

Even though I am UK based and thus use A4 size, I like the idea that my own works are the same size as official publications. Even though I cant print them at the "correct" size.

Then that's your answer.

If this is your situation, and you're producing PDFs, I would produce 2 versions:

1. A "bare bones" version, that fits in the printable area of any reasonable page (Most printers can't print to the edge of the page anyway) with no background pattern.
2. A "pretty" version, that takes the bare-bones version, and lays it on top of a background fit for the US letter size.

So version 1 fits anything page and saves everyone else ink. Even if this is on 8.5 x 11, you should be able to print on A4 without stretching. This also does most of the work for you for version 2, which just gets the background added.

I can produce a "Print Friendly" version with ease.

Regardless of the paper size I design in, as a PDF you always have the option to "Fit to Page" which will automatically scale the actual page size to fit the paper the user is printing to.

EG: The Character sheet, while designed in Quarto (US Letter size), when 'Fit to Page' is selected, it prints at 97%, and I would get a while bar at the top and bottom of my pages.

I would imagine the reverse is true... An A4 design printed on US Letter, would result in a white bar on the long edges.

I am inclined to design in US Letter, simply so that I know MY work is designed within the same parameters as the official books... I'm just curious if anyone has a preference, or even cares

a Print Friendly version would just mean I have to change the page number colours as well.

I would love to make my own material. I love the Star Wars Rebels fan adventure. Any ideas how I could get the backgrounds they use in their PDF-file?

Slightly more on topic: as an European, I prefer A4

EG: The Character sheet, while designed in Quarto (US Letter size), when 'Fit to Page' is selected, it prints at 97%, and I would get a while bar at the top and bottom of my pages.

You can also chose to *not* scale it and have it print actual size. It fills the page at the appropriate size and you only loose the bits that are off the edges. And nothing needs to be that close to the edge.

EG: The Character sheet, while designed in Quarto (US Letter size), when 'Fit to Page' is selected, it prints at 97%, and I would get a while bar at the top and bottom of my pages.

You can also chose to *not* scale it and have it print actual size. It fills the page at the appropriate size and you only loose the bits that are off the edges. And nothing needs to be that close to the edge.

This is probably why the margins are so large in official publications.

But I am trying to emulate the design as close as possible in my own work, which would suggest I work in US Letter rather than A4. (Certainly, all the backgrounds I have are US Letter in dimension).

So far I have one for US Letter, one for A4, and one (I assume) Ambivalent (Typical eh?)

I just want to be able to print information without breaking the bank on ink, so yeah, my vote is for print-friendly within Quarto dimensions.

I will create PF versions as well then. There may be a delay from the release however, as it requires some tweaks.

Do you have an issue with solid colour side bars and shout out boxes? Would you prefer them Black text on white, or a shade of grey?

I don’t see that it really makes a difference what size you use for the pages.

I mean, if you’re sufficiently OCD, then you’ll make them exactly the same size that FFG does. But if not, then not.

When printing, you can always print-to-fit.

For ink-saving purposes, you’d want a black-and-white version that doesn’t have page backgrounds. But then, that wouldn’t look very much like what FFG produces.

In all honesty, its not a HUGE issue.

Black Sun Rising (The adventure I wrote with GM Hooly) was designed in 8.3 by 11.7, which is A4. (Hooly is in Aus, I presume they use A4- .

Wow never saw your adventure, but my campaign is called Black Sun Rising