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In Figure 3-3 there is a grid of lines behind the pica characters so
that you can more easily see how they are designed. As you look at
these characters you can see three rules that govern their design: the
column on the right side is always left blank so that there will be
spaces between the characters on a line; no character uses both the top
and the bottom row; and a dot can be placed on a vertical line only
when the columns next to that line are not used.
NLQ Mode
The preceeding examples are in the LX-80's draft mode, but the
LX-80 also has the high-quality NLQ (Near Letter Quality) mode
that you have seen in previous chapters.
The NLQ letters are more fully formed than the draft letters be-
cause they are made up of many more dots. Two differences between
draft and NLQ printing enable the LX-80 to print such a large num-
ber of dots for each character. In the NLQ mode, the head moves
more slowly, so that dots can overlap horizontally, and each character
is printed with two passes of the print head.
To further insure the quality of NLQ characters, both passes of the
print head are in the same direction so the alignment of the dots is
exact.
Because the NLQ mode uses two passes for each line and prints
only in one direction, your printing does take longer in this mode.
With the two modes, draft and NLQ, the LX-80 lets you choose
high speed or high quality each time you print. You can print your
ordinary work or preliminary drafts quickly in the draft mode and
use the NLQ mode for final copies or special purposes.
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Figure 3-3. LX-80 dot matrix characters
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