Andy Pastuszak
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 2:35:16 GMT
Here is my first attempt at putting stamp descriptions on the left. What do you think? Any and all criticism welcome.
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 2:59:48 GMT
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 3:29:24 GMT
And here is how it looks inside a binder:
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Post by clivel on Dec 16, 2023 3:35:59 GMT
The text on the left looks great, much better to my mind than cluttering up the pages, but I find the images off-centred in the boxes very distracting.
Also, and it may be because the images are off-centred, but the aspect ratios of the images and boxes seem different.
Clive
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 3:49:13 GMT
The text on the left looks great, much better to my mind than cluttering up the pages, but I find the images off-centred in the boxes very distracting. Also, and it may be because the images are off-centred, but the aspect ratios of the images and boxes seem different. Clive That's a byproduct of PostmasterGS' incredible tool. Luckily, the stamps will eventually cover up the images and you'll never see them. 🤣
These are US stamps with pages in English. I don't NEED the images on the pages. They're just there to make your life a little easier when finding where to put the stamp on the page.
So, the quesiton is, should we leave the off-center images there to make it easier to figure where stamps, or do we remove them to make the blank page more visually appealing and save some ink/toner at the same time?
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mberry
Member
Posts: 990
What I collect: USA, USA Revenues, Beer Related Stamps and Revenues, US State Revenues, Stamp Show Stamps
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Post by mberry on Dec 16, 2023 4:12:41 GMT
My opinion only, I like the text on the left. I am OCD, though, I think if you are going to have a line above and below the text, it should line up with the lines on the page on the right. Or not have the lines. Oddly, I think the images on the right look great (even with my OCD), no offense clivel. I can not read the captions above or below the boxes but the stamp images are different sizes so the different size boxes makes sense to me. I have not voted in your poll yet, I wanted to look at the albums I have, 3 H E Harris, a couple Mystic, Scott, Lighthouse and a variety of old albums and children's albums. I like having the text on the left like you have it, The Mystic albums I have with the text on the left have it left justified using only the left half of the page, I do not think that looks very good. |
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Post by PostmasterGS on Dec 16, 2023 4:21:57 GMT
Are the images not centering correctly by default? I guess I need to go back and check my math. Every time they update Scribus, I have to re-do a good chunk of the math because the developers have terrible version control.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 4:31:11 GMT
Are the images not centering correctly by default? I guess I need to go back and check my math. Every time they update Scribus, I have to re-do a good chunk of the math because open source software sucks. It's not your math. It's the way I am using the tool.
I put make the boxes 2mm taller and 2mm wider than the stamp mount I am using. The image gets centered based on those measurements. Those measurements are not always. the same proportion as the stamp image, so the image gets placed inside a perfectly centered image box, but it's sometimes larger than the image. so the image ends up in the image box to the left, right, top or bottom, with some space around it.
Does that make sense?
I serious need to brush up in my python skills and get hacking. I need to write some standalone python scripts to make some tweaks I do a one-click process.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 4:33:11 GMT
My opinion only, I like the text on the left. I am OCD, though, I think if you are going to have a line above and below the text, it should line up with the lines on the page on the right. Or not have the lines. Oddly, I think the images on the right look great (even with my OCD), no offense clivel . I can not read the captions above or below the boxes but the stamp images are different sizes so the different size boxes makes sense to me. I have not voted in your poll yet, I wanted to look at the albums I have, 3 H E Harris, a couple Mystic, Scott, Lighthouse and a variety of old albums and children's albums. I like having the text on the left like you have it, The Mystic albums I have with the text on the left have it left justified using only the left half of the page, I do not think that looks very good. I'm torn here. I see your point. But I like the look of the lines. Something about the free-floating text that bothers me. |
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madbaker
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Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Dec 16, 2023 5:30:29 GMT
this looks really nice. I like the new stamp pages quite a bit. Have you considered putting the descriptions for the top row of stamps into three columns, to match how the stamps are displayed? It might make it easier to scan from stamp to descrption and back again. (or it might be hideous!) and I notice Linus Pauling is your final 'scientist' description but is the second stamp in the strip. That would bug me, but perhaps the strip of actual stamps might be in a different order? This layout seems very powerful for the page with the flag stamps. Are YOU happy with where this is headed?  |
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angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Dec 16, 2023 10:55:34 GMT
I like it. Without the border you get more breathing space.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 14:33:29 GMT
this looks really nice. I like the new stamp pages quite a bit. Have you considered putting the descriptions for the top row of stamps into three columns, to match how the stamps are displayed? It might make it easier to scan from stamp to descrption and back again. (or it might be hideous!) and I notice Linus Pauling is your final 'scientist' description but is the second stamp in the strip. That would bug me, but perhaps the strip of actual stamps might be in a different order? This layout seems very powerful for the page with the flag stamps. Are YOU happy with where this is headed? Lining up descriptions with where the stamps are on the left is a good idea, but presents two issues for me:
1. It's a lot of work to do that 2. I'd need to reduce the font size
The American Scientists stamp description is word-for-word ripped out of the US Postal Bulletin. I need to fix that. I think I should just use the text that's on the back of the stamp, since it has more detail.
Am I happy with where this is headed? Yes, I am. More than I thought I would be. I'm still not totally convinced I nailed the layout of the stamp description on the left. Still tinkering.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 14:34:36 GMT
I like it. Without the border you get more breathing space. Without the borders and descriptions I can also fit more stamps on the page. This might eliminate the need for me to use Scott-size pages and go back to US Letter. |
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 17:45:55 GMT
I was playing with some tweaks, and adding more to the descriptions just made them look very "busy." So, I'm down to 3 choices:
Single line:
Double Line:
Double line with a little more space:
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Post by PostmasterGS on Dec 16, 2023 19:27:35 GMT
You might try doubling the spacing between the end of one paragraph and the header of the next. And then make sure the distance between the top/bottom lines and the text matches that spacing.
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Andy Pastuszak
Member
Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
Posts: 1,533
What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 16, 2023 21:46:48 GMT
Do you mean like this?  |
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Post by classicalstamps on Dec 16, 2023 21:56:08 GMT
Here is my first attempt at putting stamp descriptions on the left. What do you think? Any and all criticism welcome.
May I recommend 1-2 graphical elements on the left side? A photo of a person being shown on a stamp. Or a photo of the Tiffany lamp in the example page you posted. I also like to show special postmarks if applicable. It would really elevate your story-telling. |
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Post by classicalstamps on Dec 16, 2023 21:59:02 GMT
Another thing, the top-border line on the left side, may I recommend having it "on-par" (alignment as well as type) with the one on the right side?
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Post by classicalstamps on Dec 16, 2023 22:12:32 GMT
Including a left side opens up a lot of opportunities. For example, you list the issued date on both pages. Could be omitted on one. Another thing is the catalog no. This "technical" information could be moved to the left side, to free up room for more stamps on the right. I use a table myself. Other information that could be in scope for modern issues: * no. issued * designer/printer/engraver Here's a busy page from my Denmark album. Notice the table on the bottom-left side.  |
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 17, 2023 4:30:05 GMT
This stamp album is for stamps for 21st century US postage stamps. As we moved to self-adhesive stamps and standardized printing methods, the need to describe varieties is almost gone. The USPS used to have 3 different (sometimes 4) Scott major catalog numbers for Christmas stamps, depending on who the printer was. Starting in 2012 that went away. So did the booklet stamp, the coils and the ATM panes. We're down to one major catalog number for Christmas stamps now. Number issued is not something I personally care about. And it's a value that is not easily identifiable for definitive stamps. The designer information might be interesting, as long as I can easily get the information for every stamp. As soon as I can't easily find it and need to spend a lot of time hunting it down, it becomes a data point that slows me down and I don't want to collect. The most important thing for me is the description of the topic of the stamp, with as much detail as I can fit. That takes precedence over any other information about the stamp, at least for me. Adding details such as the stamp being a reprint and what makes it deserve a new major catalog number, or why it looks just like another stamp, but has a new catalog number, (perf, die cut, size, format) would also be valuable information. I want to keep the date and stamp number number with the stamp. I always want the stamp number with the stamp. I've gotten a lot of criticism for this in the past. People want the number hidden once you mount the stamp. I definitely DO NOT want that. Catalog number with stamps at all times. And to be clear, I am using Colnect Stamp Numbers. Any similarity to Scott catalog numbers is just a coincidence.
I need to play with having the header from the stamp page duplicated on the description page and see how that looks.
Let me see if I can put together something quickly as see how it looks.
I originally created a layout on the left that had a picture of the stamp with the title and description to the right of it. I wasn't thrilled with the look and it was also a LOT of manual work.
Let me go see what I can put together.
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 17, 2023 4:46:57 GMT
OK, here is a quick and dirty mockup.
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Post by PostmasterGS on Dec 17, 2023 4:47:39 GMT
Yes. I find that if you hold it at arms length or zoom way out on your screen, you get a much better idea of whether a page is balanced. This one is. |
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philatelia
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What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Dec 17, 2023 11:16:39 GMT
The page with the stamps are so clean and uncluttered without all of the text - very nice! This is an album design idea that I can adapt to my Vario and Hagner albums, too. I’ve been thinking about how to add in write ups and using alternate side sheets is really the only possibility. Trying to incorporate slips of paper on the pages themselves looks cluttered and uses up too much space. Unlike printed pages, the stockpages are a bit too pricy to leave 90% empty.
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angore
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What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Dec 17, 2023 11:44:33 GMT
If you really want more space, give up on 3 hole punch, center text on page, and store in protective sleeves so more "exhibit" like.
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philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,405
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on Dec 17, 2023 14:44:51 GMT
If you really want more space, give up on 3 hole punch, center text on page, and store in protective sleeves so more "exhibit" like. Al, was this post in response to my previous comment? If yes, putting my Vario and Hagner in sleeves would be really inconvenient as I’m often working with the stamps. Also that would mean I’d have to buy new binders - the pages would stick out. But your idea is excellent and almost a necessity for folks using 8 1/2 x 11 printed pages. |
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djcmh
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Post by djcmh on Dec 17, 2023 17:11:20 GMT
The page with the stamps are so clean and uncluttered without all of the text - very nice! This is an album design idea that I can adapt to my Vario and Hagner albums, too. I’ve been thinking about how to add in write ups and using alternate side sheets is really the only possibility. Trying to incorporate slips of paper on the pages themselves looks cluttered and uses up too much space. Unlike printed pages, the stockpages are a bit too pricy to leave 90% empty. This is bascially how I have done my permanent Vario albums over the past several years and I find it works well - though as I use page protectors which do project out a bit past the pages there is a little overlap, but generally the Vario binders fit in their dustcases without too much of a crack (and they are kept in a deep enough bookshelf that minimized dust further. I only put the printouts in protectors - the varios are kept accessible.  |
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mberry
Member
Posts: 990
What I collect: USA, USA Revenues, Beer Related Stamps and Revenues, US State Revenues, Stamp Show Stamps
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Post by mberry on Dec 17, 2023 19:13:33 GMT
I like this suggestion! To economize space you could alternate by using double sided printed text then when looking at the album/binder, text would be on the left and stamps on the right. Flip to the next page and stamps would be on the left and text on the right.
Counter to standard stamp albums but still very functional.
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Post by clivel on Dec 17, 2023 22:13:52 GMT
OK, here is a quick and dirty mockup.
That looks so much better, having a matching header on both pages makes it look much more cohesive.
Clive
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Andy Pastuszak
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Praying for my family and everyone in Ukraine.
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What I collect: United States, Ukraine, Ireland
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Post by Andy Pastuszak on Dec 18, 2023 4:24:20 GMT
Ok, one other thing I am not happy with.
In the description, I am listing out all the varieties of definitives in the description. I'm not really happy with how it looks. I'd open to any suggestions you might make this look better:
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Post by classicalstamps on Dec 18, 2023 7:55:33 GMT
I use a variety of methods for showing varieties. Perhaps it can give you some inspiration. I use this method for showing "singles". I want an enlarged image of the variety to be easily visible.  I use this method for when there is a constant variety in a series, but for some reason I don’t want to collect all stamps containing the variety.  For plating or when there are many varieties, I sometimes choose to put it on the left side. When I do, my preferred way of displaying is positioning the images (and the stamp boxes), according to the placement in the sheet.  When showing "types", I include the area in question below or next to the stamp boxes.  |
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