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I have a client that is asking me to ensure that when he prints a page of his site, he only gets one page.
He says he gets 2 pages. The page, followed by a 'blank' page.
Surely to do this would mean I would have to seriously limit the amount of text on the page right?
Any opinions or insight much appreciated...
Nick
Then I would use a ruler tool, called Screen Ruler. It allows me to measure in pixels height or width, of stuff on the browser.
You may want to create a printer-friendly page, that only allows content on one page. or breaks it up to however many.
You can't control the content, but you can control what surrounds it.
I think it also depends on the browser that they are printing from!
If there is a solotion to this I would also like to know.
dhdweb
You will probably end up restricting your page content and layout to the lowest common denominator making some pages look sparsely populated when printed from some combinations.
I have been there and although it all worked OK in the end, I was not happy with some layout changes required.
You could consider .pdf
.pdf is out of the question.
Space at bottom? - No, I took out the entire footer (copyright etc) and it still did it.
As far as I'm concerned this is perfectly normal. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't depending on the screen design and your browser/printer settings.
Am I wrong? - I don't think so....
Nick
alot depends on how the user has the default page margins set for printing!
I've found that
@media print {
body {
margin: whatever;
padding: whatever2;
font-size: 11pt;
}
}
works well for me. It's not foolproof by any means, but it gave me a bit more consistency. I haven't tested it extensively, because the page that prompted me to do the work is one where I primarily care that *I* can print it and have it look nice when I want to deliver a paper copy of the document to someone.
Ultimately, even with a very detailed '@media print' section, you can't be certain of much. If I think of print at all when I design, I think of 8.5" x 11" US letter-sized paper. Someone somehwere might well think of A4. There are some controlls for presentation on print media that might help in CSS2, but you really can't control pagination as far as I know.
As far as I know IE6 is the only browser that supports print styles (maybe opera too...)...
Nick
However, unless you can solve the problem by using a printer friendly page I think he's out of luck... there are too many variables to even begin to consider, once you start moving web content out of the browser window.
As far as I know IE6 is the only browser that supports print styles (maybe opera too...)...
You can add Galeon and Mozilla to that list.
He will of course then complain about layout issues. Printing web pages is a pain in the ass, especially when your boss is an editor of a publishing firm and text layout to the nearest mm is grounds for dismissal!
Shanz
then you get all the useless footer info on the top 1 inch of a second sheet
I find this exact behavior 90% of the time I print a single web page. The page looks small, so I just click "Print", and darned if I don't get a copyright notice or text nav menu on the second page every time.
This phenomenon is so pervasive that I must assume that the Printer Paper Manufacturers Association is actually paying webmasters to make sure no page could actually fit on a single sheet of paper. I'd like to sign up for this program. I realize this program is a closely guarded secret, but perhaps someone can sticky me with the details. :)
Any suggestions on what makes a page printer friendly please?
What to do and what to avoid.
Thanks
zooloo
Turns out that he actually has IE6! Probably one in a milliion non-techies here in Denmark.
So, did a print stylesheet that knocked out the left and right navigation and uses print units for fonts.
He loves it ;)
Thanks for all the interesting opinions guys...
Nick
Nick
