Charles Finley writes, in response to Shawn Gordon's question:

> > describe is a slick elegant solution,
>  > library of tax forms that clients call in and request and then we fax
>  > them out, so what we are going to do is just scan everything and store
>  > it as a TIFF or something and then use the dial up faxback solution.
>
>  What about storing the forms electronicaly in the fax server or your
>  HP 3000 and merging the data into them.  You could then fax the entire
>  thing without scanning which is very labor intensive.  Do you use
>  electronic forms now?

Not only is Charles' idea a good idea -- it also represents a simple, cheap
and easy 1000:1 compression algorithm. Storing images of any sort is
extremely space intensive. Storing text and numeric data in their native
forms and merging it just prior to printing (or faxing) with one of only a
few types of forms, on the other hand, represents a very efficient use of
disc space.

Moreover, the end result will almost always be of a much higher quality. As
the resolution of the scanned image goes up, the size of the bitmap increases
by the square of the dpi used. Image compression certainly helps -- but the
general tendency is to keep the resolution low enough so that the image
quality is just barely acceptable and the scanned image size is as small as
possible. With forms merging capabilities, the quality of the output can be
anything that you want it to be (within the capabilities of the equipment) at
no additional penalty.

Wirt Atmar