problem in printing post from this forum

[vance galliher]

Whenever I print a Post from this forum, I have to use the "landscapes" page layout in order to get everything. When I use "portraits", which I prefer, the picture print fine, but some of the copy is missing from each line on the right side of the page. Does anyone else have this problem ? Are there any fixes ? Thanks for any reply.........

[Danny Baronian]

Vance,

on the mac, go to file, page set up and choose the printer and layout you want (portrait), click ok. Hit print and read your options, making sure the printer is the correct one if you have multiple printers. With multiple printers it will default to your main printer as well as layout options. Hit preview to make sure the layout is correct, then print.

If there is a long post, it may cover multiple pages, but set up as above it should print correctly.

I would assume the pc is similar but I'm not sure. Someone else can jump in for that set up.

[vance galliher]

Hi Danny,...........my pc is the same as mac for print setup, but it doesn't solve the problem. A friend said just select all, copy and paste in Word, then print. That does works, but I would rather not have to go to the extra step. On other bulletin boards everything print fine in "portraits", but not here. And of course, here is were I do most of my post printing. This is not a major issue in that I can still print what I want......just a head-scratcher....why it won't print "protrait" for me........

[Mike Jackson]

Vance,
When I set up this Forum, I picked from a bunch of "templates". Some were terrible with bright blue lettering on gray, or red on black and so forth. I picked this one becaue of the light background and black and gray graphics. Since then, I modified the little graphics to what you see, but the template still works the way that designer set it up. You can see a bunch of divisions on this format, set up with "tables". The area alloted for the picture is set to about 400 pixels maximum. The banner at the top of the Forum is 716 pixels wide, and if you print a page without any oversized pics, it should print fine in portrait mode. It does on mine anyway. If anyone makes a post with pics wider than 400 (maybe up to 425 pixels), the tables were forced to be wider and the page will probably not print in portrait mode. At that point, you need to change your printer settings to landscape, but if the pics are too large, it will still force the page to wider than will work with landscape, too. For those, you will proably need to copy to a Word document, or do a screen grab and paste that into Photoshop.

For reference, Larry's Hamilton project has 500 x 678 pixel photos. The extra 75-100 pixels pushes those posts off the page. In the Announcement post near the top of every page on the Forum, I include this important information:

Also, Please Note:
If you take a pic with your digital camera, the image will be between 1200 and 2400 pixels wide. That is much too large for an internet photo. To fit on this forum, you need to open your image in a program like Photopaint, Photoshop, or the software that came with your camera and crop or reduce the image to no more than 400 pixels wide to fit here.

Mike Jackson

[Kelly Thorson]

Hi Vance,
I have the same problem. It has something to do with the layout of this web site and the page setup settings. I'm not sure how or why it works, but if you go to File>Page Setup and change the margins to 2.5 mm (or just delete what is there) it seems to print OK. The problem seems to be that it is printing an empty column down the right side of the page, but that column must have a set width on the web site (for centering purposes maybe). With these revised settings you still get the column, but there is enough room to get all the text in as well.
Hopefully this helps.

Oooops, Mike answered at the same time, but I'll leave this here so you can try it.
Mike, for me the problem exists even when there are no graphics on a post, although what you say about the graphics definitely holds true.

[Mike Jackson]

Kelly,
I did some tests a long time ago to see how big a page could be and still be printed. My tests showed you could print a 735 pixel wide web site. In that class I took a couple of months ago, the instructor was saying 750 pixels. The variable then depends on how people have their page margins set up on their printers, as you pointed out. For a while, mine was set to 1" margins, which would clip some pages. Once I set the defaults on my main printer back to only .2 or .25", I could print most pages.

To be specific here, the banner above is 716 pixels wide, but you can see two faded gray areas along each side of the centered table. More than likely, they are 16 pixels wide on each side to total 750 (some sort of standard).

I see this problem on quite a few big time web sites now, too. With all the ads on the left and right margins, the center cell cannot be printed unless you print in landscape mode instead of portrait mode. That's the solution here if someone inserts photos wider than 400 pixels.

Good luck,
Mike Jackson

[Larry White]

I resized the pictures in the Hamilton post, hopefully that helps with the printing problem. -LW

[Kelly Thorson]

If you right click on the screen and view source, you will find that the fades on each side are 67 pixels each. The largest table is 850 pixels (67 + 716 + 67, which explains the problem if the max size you can print is 750.
I'm curious as to whether the differences in the way the web page is displayed on a Mac vs a PC also translate into printing differences? I know I came across this information not to long ago, but can't find it again. If it does, it would explain why the PC users are having problems.

[Mike Jackson]

Those 67 pixel sides must be the problem. The only two options would be for everyone to print in landscape mode or me to find a new template, then generate all the new graphics. I know that won't happen any time soon!

Larry, thanks for resizing your photos! I don't believe anyone was writing specifically about your thread. It was just a good example to use since it has been near the top for a long time.

Happy new year!

Mike Jackson