Printing on 3x5 index cards: Advice?

[me]

My history class teacher lets us write as much info on
a single 3x5 index card as possible for in class tests.
(weird I know)

Anyway.... my handwriting is terrible so wondered if
any tips or tricks on how to print up index cards with
VERY tiny print that is still readable?

 

[Bob Headrick]

My history class teacher lets us write as much info on
a single 3x5 index card as possible for in class tests.
(weird I know)

Anyway.... my handwriting is terrible so wondered if
any tips or tricks on how to print up index cards with
VERY tiny print that is still readable?

One tip would be to print on 4x6 cards and then trim them after printing.
Most printers will leave margins when printing with plain paper settings,
this way you could get an extra 0.5" that would otherwise be unreadable.
Print both sides. On my PSC 2610 I can print 2 pt text that is readable
under a magnifier. You would probably need strong reading glasses....

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Roy G]

My history class teacher lets us write as much info on
a single 3x5 index card as possible for in class tests.
(weird I know)

Anyway.... my handwriting is terrible so wondered if
any tips or tricks on how to print up index cards with
VERY tiny print that is still readable?

Ask a local Architect. They all seem to have a very special ability to
write instructions so small that a magnifier is needed. They do this even
on A2 Paper which has lots of blank spaces between the drawings.

Roy G

 

[me]

One tip would be to print on 4x6 cards and then trim them after printing.
Most printers will leave margins when printing with plain paper settings,
this way you could get an extra 0.5" that would otherwise be unreadable.
Print both sides. On my PSC 2610 I can print 2 pt text that is readable
under a magnifier. You would probably need strong reading glasses....

Ok thanks!

This is a college History class...and I'm late bloomer
in my 40s going back to school!

Anyway..... the teacher is VERY strict that it only be
3x5.... she even looks at the card before letting us
take the test to make sure its not any bigger. I guess
Id just have to be careful to trim it to proper size.

I was just curious if any special software out there
for this purpose. Or will Word work just as good as
anything else?

I'm NOT a History aficionado so try and write as small
as possible on this card and cram as much info as I
can..... but as I said my handwriting is terrible!
Need something that will print VERY tiny fonts and
weights.

Its a weird deal.... I've never had any class where I
could have some of the answers on a card WHILE taking a
test. But its the teachers rules ....so oh well. <g>

 

[Arthur Entlich]

I once had a partial computer crash and didn't realize it had effected
the printer driver. When the item printed, I though I had a series of
dotted lines print. (This was an Epson inkjet printer). Later I was
looking more closely at the printout and realized it was the text of my
document printed in nearly microscopic print. With a magnifying glass
it was all readable.

So, point is:

1) inkjet printers in high res mode can print very small text

2) the higher quality the paper used, the better the legibility

3) You may need to wear close focusing readers to see it, however.

4) Might take less time to actually study for the test and learn
something ;-)

Art

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Pretty much any printing program using truefont or postscript or other
vector fonts (which is almost everyone these days, at least on a windows
machine) will allow you to go to 2-3 points. Try several fonts until
you find one that gives you good readability while not taking up a lot
of space.

Gee, at 40 years old didn't you already LIVE through much of history ;-)

(I can make these kind of jokes because I'm older than you ;-))

Art

 

[me]

Gee, at 40 years old didn't you already LIVE through much of history ;-)

Yes!!

I did!! Ha!

I never went to college out of highs school. So am
doing it now at a late age.

 

[me]

Pretty much any printing program using truefont or postscript or other
vector fonts (which is almost everyone these days, at least on a windows
machine) will allow you to go to 2-3 points. Try several fonts until
you find one that gives you good readability while not taking up a lot
of space.

I'm not savvy on which fonts are "vector" fonts in MS
Word.

Can you advise which vector font to try that will allow
2-3 points?

Thanks

 

[Bob Headrick]

Can you advise which vector font to try that will allow
2-3 points?

I just did a test with Arial, Lucida Sans and Lucida Fax at 1, 2 and 3pt. I
could read 3pt with +1.5 reading glasses, 2 pt is readable under a magnifier
and 1 pt was too small even with the magnifier. With a 2x loupe the 1pt
font was readable, Lucida Sans printed in blue was the most readable. (You
might try printing in color, the color drops are typically much smaller than
the black.)

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Arthur Entlich]

Not to be unreasonable, but come on now. You are 40 years old and in
University - I think you can figure this out. Just try a bunch and see
which you find most legible in small point sizes.

Almost all fonts today use a vector method to be created.

Art

 

[me]

I just did a test with Arial, Lucida Sans and Lucida Fax at 1, 2 and 3pt. I
could read 3pt with +1.5 reading glasses, 2 pt is readable under a magnifier
and 1 pt was too small even with the magnifier. With a 2x loupe the 1pt
font was readable, Lucida Sans printed in blue was the most readable. (You
might try printing in color, the color drops are typically much smaller than
the black.)

OK thanks

But for some reason I cant chose anything smaller than
size 8 font in any of these

 

[Bob Headrick]

But for some reason I cant chose anything smaller than
size 8 font in any of these

You cannot select a font size smaller than 8 from the dropdown list but you
can type the number directly.

Regards,
Bob Headrick, MS MVP Printing/Imaging

 

[Fred McKenzie]

But for some reason I cant chose anything smaller than
size 8 font in any of these

Me-

When I checked, I found 8 was the lowest size available by default.
However my computer either lets me select "Other" or lets me type a
different value in the font-size window, depending on the program in
use. Some programs may have a minimum size such as 4, but others let me
enter 1.

Fred

 

[zakezuke]

My history class teacher lets us write as much info on
a single 3x5 index card as possible for in class tests.
(weird I know)

Anyway.... my handwriting is terrible so wondered if
any tips or tricks on how to print up index cards with
VERY tiny print that is still readable?

I've done straight 3x5 cards in my canon ip3000 / ip5200, though I
have to say your usual oxford cards bleed a bit. It was good enough
for my purposes. The problem I had was I couldn't do boarderless on
3x5, only small sizes like 4x6 or credit card.

If I had to do this on a canon, and I needed maxiumum legibility for
sub 10point fonts, , I would buy letter sized matte paper, and use a
chopper.

As for the teacher... use of tora no maki (cheat sheets) is a proven
technique for learning. I have used a Pilot V5 (.5mm tip). Fine line
and high contrast, and worked very well with a ruler. These days
there is the Uniball Signo Bit 0.18 mm and spiffy gel pens like the
Pilot Hi-Tec-c at .25mm to .5mm. What happens is you are forced to
write slowly alot of data, and come test time you don't really have to
look at your card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pens

 

[me]

As for the teacher... use of tora no maki (cheat sheets) is a proven
technique for learning. I have used a Pilot V5 (.5mm tip). Fine line
and high contrast, and worked very well with a ruler. These days
there is the Uniball Signo Bit 0.18 mm and spiffy gel pens like the
Pilot Hi-Tec-c at .25mm to .5mm. What happens is you are forced to
write slowly alot of data, and come test time you don't really have to
look at your card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pens

Very interesting! Thanks

I had no idea that making cheat sheets actually HELPED
leaning

Question tho.... if making such sheets does work....
why limit the size to 3x5? Why not let me make a cheat
sheet using full size paper?

 

[John]

Very interesting! Thanks

I had no idea that making cheat sheets actually HELPED
leaning

Question tho.... if making such sheets does work....
why limit the size to 3x5? Why not let me make a cheat
sheet using full size paper?

I think it's probably to condense what you learn from to key points
that will jog your memory and help you expand on that. Sometimes if
you need to remember a lot of different things you can just condense
down to key words and points that you memorise. You can even make your
own small story from the key words to help you remember important
things. We did something like this at work with memory exercises about
a year ago in a course on communication and presentations.

John

 

[me]

I think it's probably to condense what you learn from to key points
that will jog your memory and help you expand on that.

Probably correct, you are

Thanks for the opinion!