[TriLUG] Printing from the Web

[Josh Vickery]

Printing web pages reminds me of the days when websites only worked in
one browser.  I've only found one solution that seems to work for most
pages, and that is to modify the CSS, usually just removing it.  On
pages that I control, this is not a problem (at
http://vickeryj.freeshell.org/resume.html see the inline css that
starts with @media print {) for others pages I rely on the
mozilla-firefox web developer extension to edit the CSS on the fly
(usually just add media="screen").  This is not the best solution, but
until all web developers start thinking about print media as well as
screen, its the best I've found.

Josh

On 7/13/05, Brian Henning <brian at strutmasters.com> wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>    I can't seem to win for losing on this one.  Does anyone out there
> have a no-problems printing solution when it comes to printing from the
> web?  I have three web browsers to choose from, and all of them have
> their own unique problems..  Here's the skinny, and perhaps someone can
> say, "Hey, I know how to make browser ___ stop doing ____"..
> 
> NB: In the following descriptions, I use the word "image" to mean the
> logical print layout, and not to mean a graphic image file.
> 
> Opera - Used for 99% of browsing.
>   Opera's printing problem: Scaling.
>   At 100%, the image is too large for the page.  Lower scaling factors
>   appear to be applied twice; 80% appears to first shrink the page layout
>   to where it fits the page, then shrinks the entire page image to where
>   the printed page image takes only 80% of the paper.
> 
> Galeon - System default browser
>   Galeon's printing problem: Landscape
>   Galeon lays out the printed page correctly without the scaling problem
>   that Opera exhibits.  However, Galeon's landscape option results in the
>   page image turning landscape, but still being laid on the paper in
>   portrait orientation (as if you printed a landscape page and viewed it
>   through a portrait orientation window).
> 
> Mozilla - Almost never used.
>   Moz's printing problem: No Landscape option whatsoever.
> 
> None of these weirdnesses appear to be printer-related; each manifests
> exactly the same way regardless of what printer I use, or if I print to
> a file.  CUPS is my backend.
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions to fix any of the aforementioned problems?
> Or suggestions of other browsers to try?
> 
> Thanks a bunch; see some of you tomorrow.
> 
> ~Brian
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