.pdf line weights

hello all--
this has been bugging me for a while:   vector line weights not scaling properly in .pdf's (when viewed on screen in reader, preview, etc).  My workflow is usually from illustrator to indesign for layout, then export to .pdf--and the final linework always appears too heavy on screen (until zooming way into the document).  To illustrate, the attached image shows linework originated in illustrator, placed in indesign on the left and the same indesign file exported to .pdf on the right-- scaled aproximately the same on screen.   Any ideas much appreciated.  LML

Most likely, this has to do with how Acrobat displays thin lines. It may be instructive to turn off line art smoothing in Acrobat's preferences. If your (e.g.) 1 pt lines are making it into the PDF as 1 pt lines, then there's nothing wrong with Indesign. You can verify this by opening the PDF in Illustrator and checking stroke.
Your monitor is probably 96 pixels per inch. There are 72 pts in an inch, so a half point rule viewed at whatever zoom renders 100% must be made up of 1/144th of 96 pixels or about 2/3 of one pixel. Since your monitor can only display whole pixels it rounds up. Most people want smoothing on, so they don't see blocky curves. Smoothing usually means that the edge pixels get blurred, but the edge of a 1 pixel line *is* that one pixel, so more pixels must be added. So far, we're only talking about B&W. But your monitor is color, and both Acrobat and Indesign make use of color to help out with smoothing (obviously in different ways).
In the end, if it prints correctly, then you're okay. If you're designing for display only, use thicker rules.
Ken

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