fixed widths don't print well

[annej]

I just discovered that some of my pages with fixed widths don't print right. The end of each line is cut off. I guess it depends on if you want people to be able to print info out. In this case they are widget patterns which would be commonly printed out so I am gradually designing a printable page for each pattern.

[stapel]

You might want to provide a link to instructions on how to print pages that might be "too wide" for the printer.

Many browsers allow the user to "resize to fit". And I believe all GUI browsers (so not Lynx, but just about anything else) allow for "landscape" printing.

You might want to put a "Having trouble printing?" link at the bottom of your pages, leading to an explanation of how to change settings to get a good printout.

Having a print-friendly alternative is nice, of course, but may be more work initially than creating the instructions page. So you might want to provide the instructions while you're working on the print-friendly versions.

Just an idea....

Eliz.

[edited by: encyclo at 1:28 am (utc) on June 11, 2006]

[le_gber]

annej, why not have the css stylesheet using percentages instead of px - in other words use a fluid layout for your print css and a fixed layout for your screen css.

[annej]

I'm not doing css at all for my printable pages, just keeping it really simple. But I'm only doing printable for pages with the few widgeting patterns.

Most of my sites are articles and gradually I do need to work out the css so all pages will be printable.

[le_gber]

annej

if your site is css driven creating a print page is a 5 minute job.

hide everything you don't want to print (header, nav, footer etc) and set the width of your page/wrapper to 100% - the rest should take care of itself.

[jessejump]

>>>>> pages with fixed widths don't print right.

What is the fixed width?
Keep everything less than ~600px wide. Images and tables, divs

You can test this - make a table 750px width- print
700px -print
600px - print
see what happens

[annej]

Thanks for the info everyone.

[vincevincevince]

It does seem that the problem is over-wide pages.