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# Re: Race Label on LCD (was RE: Jefferson County, KY)

- To: rcr@dieboldes.com
- Subject: Re: Race Label on LCD (was RE: Jefferson County, KY)
- From: Guy Lancaster <glanca@dieboldes.com>
- Date: Tue, 02 Feb 1999 09:52:39 -0800
- Organization: Global Election Systems Inc.
- References: <000001be4ec7$b97cb9d0$6503a8c0@cramden.dieboldes.com>

> > 2) Race#/Colon/MidTruncatedName - "16:UNITED..NATOR".

> This one I understand and prefer.

> > 4) Race#/Colon/InitialsMidTruncatedName - "37:S S 7TH DIST" for STATE SENATOR- 7TH DIST.

> This one I don't follow though. What the rules for initials and mid truncation? What gets printed for "For the office of the president and vice president" and "This-Is-A-Strange-Race-Label"? Anyway, if you can come up with some rules that generate something more legible than option 2, I am all for it.

Legibility is going to be a subjective measurement since I find option 4 more legible than 2 in the few cases that I've considered. Rather like those word puzzles, some people get some, others get others. I work better with the beginning of a word than with the end. And I find that the most useful part of most race titles is at the end.

As for rules, I'll make a stab at an algorithm.

4a) Truncate the end of each word (delimiters (i.e. a space, dash, etc.) to be defined) until either the text fits the display or we're down to an initial. Keep the delimiter. This would actually produce "37:S SE 7TH DIST" in the above example which looks admittedly like "SOUTH SOUTH-EAST 7TH DIST".

How about a compromise?

4b) Truncate the middle-end of each word until either the text fits with ".." in the middle of the word or we're down to an initial. Keep the delimiter. This should give the original example in option 4 above. For "16:UNITED STATES SENATOR" we get "16:U S SENATOR". For "52:REPRESENTATIVE IN U.S." we get "52:RE..E IN U.S.". Like I said, there will always be examples which don't work.

Any other suggestions?

Guy
--
Guy Lancaster <glanca@dieboldes.com>
Global Election Systems Inc., Victoria, B.C., Canada
Phone: (250)995-8627

- References:
  - RE: Race Label on LCD (was RE: Jefferson County, KY)
    - From: "Ken Clark" <ken@dieboldes.com>

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