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#1 2009-02-16 10:10 am
Website printing problems
I have created a fairly elaborate, multi-page web site using iWeb 8, v 2.0.4. I published to a folder and ftp's to my domain server (not mobile me). The site displays perfectly on my MacbookPro and on two different Windows machines belonging to friends here in the US. It also prints fine from my MacbookPro. Recently, it has been pointed out to me (and I have verified) that the Windows machines cannot print my web site pages correctly.
The pages in my site can get rather long, requiring three standard 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper to print. This is OK from my Mac, as I said. But from Windows, only the first sheet prints right, and all the rest are screwed up severely. (Page two is basically blank and page three is rearranged and messed up with text missing or missplaced relative to the photos and graphics.)
In iWeb, using the Inspector>layout, I find that the default page size is: content width = 700 px; content height = 480 px. For my site the content width = 700 but the content height can be as large as 2000 px. I had to increase the height allocation in order to accommodate the long page content.
As I said, the Mac doesn't seem to care that I have a long web page but Windows screws up the printing even though the screen display is perfect.
Can anyone offer any suggestions as to what might be causing the problem and how to fix it? My friend in Japan is getting terribly frustrated because he cannot print out the material to get it translated. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Arlie
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#2 2009-02-16 9:55 pm
- sturner
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Re: Website printing problems
One very obvious (to me, and perhaps only to me) is to use XHTML or more correctly XML and then use XSTL to format the page for either display as HTML or into printing friendly formatting. Remember that HTML is intended for display and to loosely structure the data. Using XML-FO instructions to convert the same data into printer friendly formatting is what you really need to do. It's not easy, but it is the way to do what you want.
The XML will translate through an XSLT document into HTML or XHTML for display on the web. That same XML file can be used through a separate XSLT document when you click on a special print button you embed in your page to produce a printer friendly formatted document.
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#3 2009-02-17 9:06 pm
Re: Website printing problems
Thanks for the reply. However, at my level of understanding its about as clear as mud. I checked Google and Wiki for info on XML, XSTL, XHMTL and what I found made me run whimpering into my kitchen to grab a quick brew from the frig.
What I need is something in the way of a template that I can use to follow in order to modify or translate the contents of the iWeb output folder into the type of file that you describe.
Can you walk me through the process or do I have to go to a professional web designer? (Which i can't afford - that's why I'm using iWeb.) Any suggestions as to how I should proceed will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks again.
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#4 2009-02-17 9:25 pm
- Nefarious
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Re: Website printing problems
What about using Firefox on the Windows machine ?
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#6 2009-02-18 12:56 am
Re: Website printing problems
Many thanks to each of you who have responded. I continue to ask for suggestions because I really want to produce a directly printable web site. However, I believe that I have discovered a workable (and affordable) near-term solution. Here it goes:
1. On my mac, print each web page to a pdf file on my hard drive. Name the file "PageName.pdf"
2. in iWeb, near the top of each page, create a text box stating "To download a printable file, click on: 'PageName.pdf' " and format the text "PageName.pdf" as a button using the graphics inspector.
3. Highlight the "button" and open the hyperlink inspector. Check "enable as hyperlink". Select Link to: "A File". Name: select the PageName.pdf file from the pop-up Finder window. Click "Open" in the Finder window and click "Choose" in the Hyperlink window.
4. Repeat for each web page on the site.
5. in iWeb, publish to a folder on the hard drive.
6. Use an ftp client to publish the revised web pages to the Domain server.
The iWeb Help blurb on hyperlinks says that this will download the file to the viewer's computer, and the pdf file should be printable even on a windows machine. I suppose if I had iLife'09 I could just ftp directly to the domain server from within the program. But, I have iLife'08.
I don't have time tonight to do this and tomorrow is a very busy day, but I'll report back as soon as I have time to prove this out.
Even if this works, it is still a work around. I do want to learn a way to produce windows-printable web pages using iWeb. Thanks again for any and all suggestions or comments.
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