In this work, automatic pagination and the methods for solving the
layout problem are studied
. In particular, methods
such as simulated annealing, which could be utilized in the automatic
pagination of the generalized newspaper, are considered. Electronic
publishing is also discussed briefly to illuminate where and how
automatic pagination would be useful. In addition, an example
application context, a newspaper delivered on fax, is described in
detail. This context offers a problem definition and criteria for the
comparison of different methods of automatic pagination.
The standards of pagination employed in comparison of the methods were mostly derived from goals of the traditional newspaper pagination. This choice of goals is justified for several reasons. The readers are used to the newspaper format, and even when viewing information on screen, they may find reading easier and more pleasant if there is a visual resemblance with the old medium. In addition, the readability of a newspaper layout has been developed through years, and has evolved into an easily readable format for presenting short pieces of information. Furthermore, the currently available computer screen resolution is inferior to the resolution of printed matter, and reading from screen is thus not nearly as pleasant as from paper. Thus it is probable that paper as a medium for reading will not disappear for a long time, although the delivery of information may increasingly take place over computer networks and other electronic transfer media.
Contributions of this thesis include the following: