a5-coin

A5 Coin Checklist PDF Generator

When to use

• User wants a printable coin collection checklist
• User mentions A5, Filofax, binder, or planner pages for coins
• User wants to cross-reference a Numista export against a series master list
• User is iterating on a previously generated coin checklist PDF

Page Setup

from reportlab.lib.pagesizes import A5
PAGE_W, PAGE_H = A5  # 148mm x 210mm (419.53 x 595.28 pts)

LEFT_M = 18*mm    # WIDER — clears 6-hole Filofax punch
RIGHT_M = 6*mm
TOP_M = 9*mm
BOT_M = 8*mm
USABLE_W = PAGE_W - LEFT_M - RIGHT_M  # ~124mm

6-Hole Punch Guides

Draw on every page. Filofax A5 standard hole positions from top edge:

HOLE_POSITIONS_MM = [19, 51, 70, 140, 159, 191]
for h in HOLE_POSITIONS_MM:
    y = PAGE_H - h*mm
    c.setStrokeColor(HexColor("#CCCCCC"))
    c.setLineWidth(0.25)
    c.circle(4.5*mm, y, 2.2*mm, stroke=1, fill=0)

Font

Use Carlito (metric-compatible with Calibri, free under the SIL Open Font License). On Linux it is usually at:

/usr/share/fonts/truetype/crosextra/Carlito-Regular.ttf
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/crosextra/Carlito-Bold.ttf
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/crosextra/Carlito-Italic.ttf

On Windows or macOS, download Carlito from Google Fonts and point to those files instead.

Register all three variants. Never fall back to Helvetica: the layout below is tuned for Calibri-style metrics.

Typography Rules (HARD CONSTRAINTS)

Element	Font	Size	Notes
Cover title	Carlito-Bold	20pt	Centered in black banner
Cover subtitle	Carlito-Bold	16pt	Below title
Section headers	Carlito-Bold	8.5-9pt	White on black bar
Column headers	Carlito-Bold	7.5pt	Grey, above separator line
Body text — ALL columns	Carlito / Carlito-Bold	11pt	Uniform across Name, Period, Now
Collected detail line	Carlito-Italic	8.5pt	Grey, below collected row
Footer	Carlito	6pt	Page number + checklist name
Face value column	Carlito	9pt	Right-aligned, abbreviated (5Y, 10Y, 1J)

Critical: Keep Name, Period, and Now columns at the SAME font size (11pt). Mixed sizes look unprofessional on a printed page.

Row Layout

ROW_H = 16-18      # pts — generous spacing between lines
SEC_H = 17          # section header bar height
COL_H = 13          # column header height
COLLECTED_EXTRA = 11 # extra height for detail line on collected rows

• Draw a subtle separator line (0.2pt, #DDDDDD) at the bottom of each row
• Alternate row backgrounds: every even row gets #EBEBEB fill
• Collected rows: bold text + tick mark in checkbox

Column Positions (from LEFT_M)

COL_CK = 0          # checkbox
COL_YR = 11         # year
COL_NM = 36         # coin name (primary column)
# Right-side columns — push right to avoid overlap with period text
COL_ERA = 84*mm     # era marker (B/P/N) or face value
COL_NOW = 89*mm     # current state / secondary info

Key lesson: Period/date strings like "300 BCE-1279" are ~28mm wide at 11pt. The era marker and NOW column MUST start after 84mm to avoid overlap. This was a multi-iteration fix.

Grayscale Design (MANDATORY)

Designed for a grayscale laser printer. Never rely on color for meaning.

Visual element	Grayscale approach
Collected row highlight	Diagonal line hatching (not color fill)
Section headers	White text on solid black bar
Alternating rows	#EBEBEB vs white
Era indicators	Text letters (B/P/N) not colored dots
Collected mint marks	Bold vs regular weight (not color)
Checkboxes	Tick mark drawn with lines, not Unicode

Hatching implementation:

def hatch(c, x, y, w, h):
    c.saveState()
    p = c.beginPath(); p.rect(x, y, w, h)
    c.clipPath(p, stroke=0)
    c.setStrokeColor(HexColor("#CCCCCC"))
    c.setLineWidth(0.35)
    for i in range(-int(h), int(w+h), 5):
        c.line(x+i, y, x+i+h, y+h)
    c.restoreState()

Tick mark (not X, not Unicode):

c.setStrokeColor(BLK); c.setLineWidth(1.2)
cx = LEFT_M + COL_CK + 1; cy = ty - 1
c.line(cx+2, cy+4, cx+4, cy+1.5)
c.line(cx+4, cy+1.5, cx+8, cy+7.5)

Page Flow (Continuous)

Never give each section its own page. Sections flow continuously. Small sections (3-5 items) must pack onto the same page as the previous section's tail.

# Prevent orphan: section header needs header + col_header + 1 row minimum
if item_type == 'section_header':
    needed = h + COL_H + 2 + ROW_H + 4
    if y - needed < BOT_M:
        y = new_page(c)

Cover Page Structure

1. Black banner with title (20pt) and subtitle (16pt)
2. Subtitle line below banner (12pt, grey)
3. Horizontal rule
4. Stats box (#EBEBEB fill): "Total: X Have: Y Need: Z" (14pt bold)
5. Coverage percentage (11pt, grey)
6. Collector name (14pt bold) + Numista handle (11pt)
7. Legend section (if applicable)
8. Series summary with counts right-aligned

Do NOT Include

• Separate blank notes page (wastes paper)
• Color-dependent elements
• Unicode checkmarks or special characters (font coverage issues)
• Font sizes below 7pt for any element
• More than 1 page of whitespace anywhere in the document

Output

Save the PDF where the user can open it (on claude.ai: /mnt/user-data/outputs/ and call present_files; in Claude Code: the working folder). Render pages with pdf2image for visual QA before delivering.