Printing a website

Whoever thinks that nowadays life is completely digital is wrong. Even though I love trees, try to recycle as much as I can, and try to avoid wasting any material, I do still paper print. Sometimes long emails that contain work instructions, and often web articles that I want to use for re-reading or that have so much information in them that I want to be able to read it off-screen and use a marker and my own (unlegible) handwritten comments.

And that was what I wanted to do this morning. Print an interesting SEO article that was 7 pages long. Now I know better so I did not immediately hit the Print button, I used File – Print Preview. And that showed me that trying to print this webpage would not be a happy experience.

What is the issue with web printing?

1. I want only the article text, not all the advertisements on the side, not the menu, not the banner, etc.
2. I don’t want to be running out of my color ink unnecessarily.
3. I want to be able to read the text, and not have it cut off to the right.

What is the problem?

The problem is a web developer that thinks that printing is obsolete. It is not that hard to create a separate print stylesheet (sorry for the technical term). A print stylesheet is used when you want to print a page. The only thing that a web developer has to do is to eliminate all the unwanted areas for printing. Then add a little formatting so the article text will fit nicely on your paper, and make certain that only black and grey are used as colors. That’s it. No rocket science and so much more user-friendly.

Can I get a print stylesheet?

If you let me build your website you automatically get a print stylesheet. No extra costs. Also included are your contact details on each print-out, so if a client prints your page, they have your phone number, address and email all on that same page.

If you want something more, I can create a special print design for you. That would include a printer-friendly version of your logo, and any extra branding that you would like to see on a printed page.

How do I print a webpage that does not have that print stylesheet?

There are a few things that you can try:

• Look for a print button or print link on the page itself.
  Some developers add the printer-friendly option to the page itself.
• Print the page Landscape if the text is cut-off to the right.
  In most browsers you set this in File – Print Set up – Orientation – Landscape.
• Select the full page, Edit – Select All (or if that is easier for you, use the mouse to select only the article text), copy and paste in Word, or your favorite Text editor.
  Once in Word (pasting might take a little while!), delete all the elements that you do not want to be printed, and then print from Word.