Print Style Sheets - Taking Too Much Control from Visitors?

[weslinda]

Dave: The only browsers that handle printing with any near efficiency are the latest versions of Firefox and IE. IE6 and most other browsers do not handle fixed width environments with ease.

I'm glad to see that people are in agreement that this was the right way to go.

I think that my goal is to make my visitors life as simple as possible, and that the print functionality that i've shown here should be at the top of most web sites lists.

[grillsgt]

I used a stylesheet with media set to print on one of my sites BillCanGrill.com. I used it for virtually all the content, especially the recipes and tips. There's a lot of other things on the screen that the user doesn't need when they print out a recipe from the site: testimonials, navigation, Google Adsense ads, affiliate advertising banners, my own food photo thumbnails, etc. I also used a different font that's easier on the eyes when reading printed pages.

So why make them use up all that ink? IMO, using a stylesheet for print media is much better than creating duplicate pages just for printing and it eliminates the need for the user to set print options themselves, which, I'd be willing to guess, most people don't or they forget until the page is cut off or otherwise unusable after printing.

[weslinda]

I agree, I honestly think that any web designer setting up a site, especially one that will be a resource of information should ensure that their designs are compatibile with using a style sheet just for printing.

The planning should be handled from the beginning,a nd if it is, it is amazingly easy to manage actual implementation.