Printing from Internet Explorer & Firefox
Some websites create their websites so that articles print without the webpage header, navigation bars, and advertisements. (Ours do!). Unfortunately, the majority of websites are not coded this way.
However, you do have some control on how your document prints when printing from the Internet. Instructions are given below for Internet Explorer and Firefox.
Internet Explorer
Like Firefox, a new version of Internet Explorer is unveiled periodically. Internet Explorer version 7 was the first version to more or less follow international website standards. If you are using an older version of IE, please update if possible as some websites do not display well in the older versions. The newest version is always available as a free download from Microsoft, but make sure you download a version that can run on your operating system.
To print a webpage, first click File | Print Preview. The left most icon on the Print Preview window is the Print icon. When you have customized the text size, margins, and orientation, click this button to print the document.
Text Size
At the top of the window you will see a box that either shows a percentage or "Shrink to Fit." Shrink to Fit appears to print the webpage at 100% of the text size displayed on the monitor. If you would like the output to have a smaller or larger font size, click the down arrow and choose a percentage. You can click Custom and type in a percentage. Each time you choose a percentage, Internet Explorer will display the page with the new font size.
Note: In the newer versions of Internet Explorer, you can change the text size for viewing webpages. Click the down arrow next to "Page," hover over "Text Size," and click Largest, Larger, Medium, Smaller, or Smallest.
Portrait or Landscape
The next two icons on the top toolbar let you choose Portrait or Landscape mode. When you click one of the two buttons, Internet Explorer will show you how the printed page will look with that orientation. You can also select the page orientation from the Page Setup menu discussed below.
Page Margins
To change the page margins, notice the two vertical lines (with arrows) at the top of the previewed document, and the two horizontal lines (with arrows) on the left edget of the previewed document. When you hover the cursor over these lines, the words "adjust margin" appear. With your cursor hovered over the lines, press the left mouse button and slide the line to increase or decrease the margin.
Margin values can be specified also from the Page Setup menu. The Page Setup button is also on the Print Preview menu bar.
Header and Footer
By pressing the Page Setup icon, you can change header and footer text on your printed pages. However, BEWARE of the option of modifying the header and footer. By default, Internet Explorer prints the document title in the header and the website URL in the footer. Having the website URL print is very helpful because you may want to revisit the website. There are several things to consider if you change the default code in the header and footer.
First, if you type in a custom header and/or footer for the webpage you are printing, that header and footer will print on all subsequent webpages that you print. Since this is undesireable, you will have to change the header and footer again in Page Setup after printing.
If you do erase the default code, you will have to enter one or more of the codes below in order for IE to print meaningful headers and footers on your webpage output. Multiple codes can be entered for both the header and footer. Date and time formats correspond to defaults specified for the PC.
For example: &u - &d - Page &p of &P in the header will print the following on each page: http://www.keynotesupport.com - 04/01/10 - Page 1 of 2
| &w - webpage title | &u - webpage URL |
| &d - date (short format) | &D - date (long format) |
| &t - time (short format) | &T - time (long format) |
| &p - page number | &P - total number of pages |
Paper Type and Source
Other options on the Page Setup menu include specifying the type of paper and the printer feed source.
Printing background Colors and Images
You cannot specify the printing of background colors and images from the Print Preview window. This option is specified in the browser itself. To print or not print a web page's background colors and images, follow these instructions:
- From Internet Explorer's top menu bar, click Tools | Internet Options.
- Click the Internet Properties tab and scroll down to the section labelled Printing.
- Click to check or uncheck the box next to "Print background colors and images" and click OK.
Firefox
The popular Firefox browser is a free download, and is a safer browser to use since most virus and spyware creators target Internet Explorer. Firefox handles memory more efficiently, and because Firefox is open source, there are many fine add-ons that can make your browsing experience more enjoyable.
To print a webpage, first click File | Print Preview. The left most icon on the Print Preview window is the Print icon. When you have customized the text size, margins, and orientation, click this button to print the document.
Text Size
To change the text size, click the arrow in the box labeled "Scale" and choose a different percentage. Or click Custom, type in a percentage in the little popup window, and click OK. Firefox will then display the webpage at your chosen percentage. If text is being truncated at the right margin, see separate topic below.
Portrait or Landscape
On the right side of the Print Preview menu bar are the Portrait and Landscape buttons. When you click one of the two buttons, Firefox will show you how the printed page will look with that orientation. Orientation can also be specified on the Page Setup menu.
Print Background Colors and Images
Click the Page Setup button and find this option on the Formats & Options tab. If you uncheck this option, only background colors and images will not print. Images in the text portion of the document should still print. Some images in the header or footer of a webpage may print, depending on how the website was coded.
Page Margins
To change the page margins, click the Page Setup button and click the Margins & Header/Footer tab. Enter the values for the margins, and click OK.
Header and Footer
The header and footer of the printed output can be customized on the Margins & Header/Footer tab of the Page Setup menu. Using the dropdown menus, you can choose information (e.g. date, page number, URL) to print in the left, center, or right side of the header or footer. This facility is much nicer than what Internet Explorer version 7 supplies.
However, if you choose Custom and type in text for your header or footer, that text will appear on any subsequent page you print from Firefox unless you go back into Page Setup and remove the custom text, so use with caution.
Fixing Truncated Text at Right Margin
When printing a webpage from Firefox, text at the far right side may get chopped off - which can be terribly annoying. To see how a webpage will print from Firefox before actually printing, click File | Print Preview. If the text on the right side of the page is truncated, changing the Scale to "Shrink To Fit" should solve the problem.
If this solution makes the text too small for your reading comfort, you can remedy this by temporarily increasing the size of text on the webpage. Click Tools | Options, and under "Fonts & Colors," change the Size to a larger number and click OK.
Now when viewing the page in Print Preview with a Scale of "Shrink To Fit," the text size should be larger. Print the page, and don't forget to return to Tools | Options and change the webpage font size back to its original setting.
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