4 ms·

If you moved from Europe to the US (or vice versa), I'm curious what your thoughts are on using A4 vs US letter? And I mean once you were settled and transition

If you moved from Europe to the US (or vice versa), I'm curious what your thoughts are on using A4 vs US letter? And I mean once you were settled and transitioned to using the other standard, did you find yourself thinking one was better than the other? Another way of asking this is, if you could magically make it so that everyone had been using and today used one of the two (A4 or US letter), would it matter to you?

deleted 4y ago
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codethief 4y ago
> A4 vs US letter I (European) spent some time in the US in the past and, while I understand why many people prefer A4, I found one major advantage of the US letter format: It is, like so many things in America, bigger. Very useful if you have to write down equations!
- Beltalowda 4y ago
  It's slightly wider (6mm) but shorter (18mm), not really "bigger". In terms of surface area it's a bit smaller.
- athenot 4y ago
  It's only 6mm wider than A4, but 18mm shorter (about 3/4 inch) A4 210mm x 297mm Letter 216mm x 279mm
  - codethief 4y ago
    You're absolutely right, it is shorter – for some reason my memories just skipped that part. Maybe because the width is the most relevant when writing down long equations. :)
prennert 4y ago
when I see text on US letter, I tend to struggle reading it fast. This is because I find it hard to find the next line after I read to the end of a line. I think there is an optimal line width that allows the eyes to flow from line to line, and documents in the US letter format does seem to regular exceed that. Of course this is not intrinsically the fault of the paper size. The lines could just be narrower. But then you get a massive margin, which is often not what you want for a /letter/. At least not one printed on 10pt or 12pt. Once you put notes in the margins, or double column layout, US letter might be superior. Maybe also for typed letters as the words tend to be wider in that case. I am curious if people experience the same, or potentially the other way around.
vlmutolo 4y ago
I'm American and started using A4 because good fountain pen paper is usually A4, A5, etc. I eventually found that I like the A4 size better than US Letter. US Letter seems unnecessarily wide for most writing.
biztos 4y ago
I’ve done this both ways a few times, and still bounce between Europe and the US a lot. Once I got used to A4 et al I found it maddening that the other sizes are missing in the US. A4 vs Letter is no big deal, IMO, with modern printer drivers and PDFs and so on. But once you start making regular use of A5 and A3, it’s hard to adjust to their absence. However, the DIN sizes are not the only standard sizes in Europe! There are also (de facto?) sizes for art paper, canvas board, and stretched canvas. For example, 30x40cm is a standard size for painters, and A3 (almost but not quite the same) is only really used for drawing… and sometimes for prints, depending on technology. On the US side, 9x12in is a standard size for both drawing and watercolor. And it fits exactly zero frames you can buy off the shelf in Europe. But at least 16x20in is almost 40x50cm! That’s been a lifesaver. Just today I was pleased to realize that my “weird” sized Chinese watercolor paper — Baohong, good stuff - is within a few mm of A5. Because I’ll take any standard at this point.
- solidsnack9000 4y ago
  Yeah, the other sizes are great -- I have small assortment of A* paper at home, now, sourced from various countries.
deepspace 4y ago
I moved from a metric country to Canada 25 years ago. Although Canada is technically metric, pounds, and feet still abound. It sometimes feels like litres and km are the only metric units actually used here. Of all the European measurements, the one I miss most here is the paper size. I still struggle with the scaling mess that is US paper sizes, and long for the elegance of the A, B and C series.
jahewson 4y ago
For modern typeset documents it’s a close call but I’d say that A4 has a slight edge in that it’s longer and the extra width of US Letter in practice just means wider margins. But it’s when you start folding and mailing the paper that the A* system really shines, US system is maddeningly frustrating.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

codethief 4y ago

> A4 vs US letter I (European) spent some time in the US in the past and, while I understand why many people prefer A4, I found one major advantage of the US letter format: It is, like so many things in America, bigger. Very useful if you have to write down equations!

Beltalowda 4y ago
It's slightly wider (6mm) but shorter (18mm), not really "bigger". In terms of surface area it's a bit smaller.
athenot 4y ago
It's only 6mm wider than A4, but 18mm shorter (about 3/4 inch) A4 210mm x 297mm Letter 216mm x 279mm
- codethief 4y ago
  You're absolutely right, it is shorter – for some reason my memories just skipped that part. Maybe because the width is the most relevant when writing down long equations. :)

prennert 4y ago

when I see text on US letter, I tend to struggle reading it fast. This is because I find it hard to find the next line after I read to the end of a line. I think there is an optimal line width that allows the eyes to flow from line to line, and documents in the US letter format does seem to regular exceed that. Of course this is not intrinsically the fault of the paper size. The lines could just be narrower. But then you get a massive margin, which is often not what you want for a /letter/. At least not one printed on 10pt or 12pt. Once you put notes in the margins, or double column layout, US letter might be superior. Maybe also for typed letters as the words tend to be wider in that case. I am curious if people experience the same, or potentially the other way around.

vlmutolo 4y ago

I'm American and started using A4 because good fountain pen paper is usually A4, A5, etc. I eventually found that I like the A4 size better than US Letter. US Letter seems unnecessarily wide for most writing.

biztos 4y ago

I’ve done this both ways a few times, and still bounce between Europe and the US a lot. Once I got used to A4 et al I found it maddening that the other sizes are missing in the US. A4 vs Letter is no big deal, IMO, with modern printer drivers and PDFs and so on. But once you start making regular use of A5 and A3, it’s hard to adjust to their absence. However, the DIN sizes are not the only standard sizes in Europe! There are also (de facto?) sizes for art paper, canvas board, and stretched canvas. For example, 30x40cm is a standard size for painters, and A3 (almost but not quite the same) is only really used for drawing… and sometimes for prints, depending on technology. On the US side, 9x12in is a standard size for both drawing and watercolor. And it fits exactly zero frames you can buy off the shelf in Europe. But at least 16x20in is almost 40x50cm! That’s been a lifesaver. Just today I was pleased to realize that my “weird” sized Chinese watercolor paper — Baohong, good stuff - is within a few mm of A5. Because I’ll take any standard at this point.

solidsnack9000 4y ago
Yeah, the other sizes are great -- I have small assortment of A* paper at home, now, sourced from various countries.

deepspace 4y ago

I moved from a metric country to Canada 25 years ago. Although Canada is technically metric, pounds, and feet still abound. It sometimes feels like litres and km are the only metric units actually used here. Of all the European measurements, the one I miss most here is the paper size. I still struggle with the scaling mess that is US paper sizes, and long for the elegance of the A, B and C series.

jahewson 4y ago

For modern typeset documents it’s a close call but I’d say that A4 has a slight edge in that it’s longer and the extra width of US Letter in practice just means wider margins. But it’s when you start folding and mailing the paper that the A* system really shines, US system is maddeningly frustrating.