website printing issues

Why does a site not print the same on all machines?

[twindad1]

I have a web site where it looks fine to me and if I print it out it comes out fine BUT when someone at another location trys to print it out, it gets cut off on the right side.
If you look at it in print preview it looks cut off. Why is this happening on only some machines?

Is it the printer? Is it the formatting of web page?

Thanks in advance,Chris

[oilman]

Hey twindad1 - welcome to WMW.

Printing from the web can be a real problem. Generally speaking you need to make you site run unrestricted. I mean using 100% tables and so forth. Alot of folks optimize for 800x600 which doesn't print properly but it does look nice on the screen ;)

If you email me the URL for the site I will have a look at it. If the site if non-adult and none affiliate type stuff you can post it here.

[twindad1]

Thanks oilman. One of the sites I noticed it on is at www.dlec.com When printing it out from a different printer then my own, it came out with the right side a bit chopped off.

Its created in table with 780 pixel left alignment. Does this page print ok for you?

When you say 100% tables you mean 100 % with no pixels width? What does this do to the screen view?

Thanks for the help!

Chris

Edited by: twindad1

[rcjordan]

>When printing it out from a different printer then my own

I wonder if the default right margin for this printer was wider than yours?

[tedster]

Hi Twindad,

Saw your post over in the Browser Forum and thought I'd check in on the discussion.

Printing out a site is a real tangle, and various brands and even versions of browsers do different things. Printing from different browsers can be even crazier than the differences that they create on screen. Add to the browser problem all the various kinds of printers, and the great variation in the way sites can write their HTML and you have a heck of a stew.

I looked at the code for this site, and I see one oddity -- the nested (second level) table is defined as width=106%. That's a very curious declaration, and I'd guess that it can cause some software to get the hiccups.

[Brett_Tabke]

If you declare a page to be 800 pixels wide, the user only has 640 wide, and they try to print it, the 160 pixels of the "scroll right" portion can get axed on some setups.

Like others said, using percentages is the way to go. That will allow the page to display properly on huge monitors as well as small monitors.