Easily customize or force printing to print just first page of a long webpage; print controls appear to be ignored
Printing challenge
My relative does some “searches” and when she finds something she likes, she wants to print a page for reference.
BUT, when she prints a webpage from some websites, the Firefox printer controls are ignored. Meaning, she sets the printer controls to print just the first page, “Print >> Pages from 1 to 1”.
The ensuing pint seems to ignore the controls and the printer may spew 1 to x number of pages.
Yes, the source webpage can be scrolled quite far down, so it will never fit on one print page. Nonetheless, the controls shown above appear to be ignored with the resulting large volume print (e.g.: the entire webpage is sent to the printer” in lieu of just one page.
My relative does not have the finesses to select an area, so an add-on that requires an extra step or two may not be useful.
Sending to a PDF is also problematic as that requires an extra few steps to open, select and print just the first page.
Any thoughts, suggestions?
BTW, the laptop is up-to-date in all regards: OS, applications, drivers, etc.. Its not a cache issue. Its happened over a period of last two years, but I just decided to see/ask if there is a suggested strategy or solution.
Thanks.
All Replies (8)
Web page printing doesn't always work because of the site or it's configured so you can't print like you would just print a Word Document. So what site is this? If you can't save or print preview to see what it looks like this it's a site issue that is setup to not allow someone to print. If they want the article they should contact the site WebMaster for a printable version email to them.
My guess was reinforced by your feedback. I'll contact the one or two websites that present the issue. Thanks for the time and the comment.
Always do a Print Preview that will be your best bet to know if it can print or not. And some pages for reasons unknown print better in one Browser but not another. So print the 1st page as test in each Browser and then you see which one should be used to print that page instead.
As I intimated, the relative has some challenges, hence my search for a print function that simplifies the task. Thanks for the reply, nonetheless. Ted
TedT_USA said
As I intimated, the relative has some challenges, hence my search for a print function that simplifies the task. Thanks for the reply, nonetheless. Ted
The only options is if there is a Addon that does that so I would say look at mozilla addon site to see if there is such a Addon.
No luck on add-ons. There's one that I think is experimental, as a result I'll wait a while.
TedT_USA said
... BUT, when she prints a webpage from some websites, the Firefox printer controls are ignored. Meaning, she sets the printer controls to print just the first page, “Print >> Pages from 1 to 1”. ... The ensuing pint seems to ignore the controls and the printer may spew 1 to x number of pages. ... Any thoughts, suggestions?
The dialog box where Print Range: 0 All 0 Pages ___ to ___ appears is NOT a Firefox dialog box. Within Firefox internal programming code that dialog box is referred to as the "native print dialog", and is part of the operating system being used - Windows or Linux - the one for Mac OSX is different, though.
That dialog box is passed thru from the Operating System, and if the user choice isn't respected I surmise that the fault is with the Operating System rather than the application, Firefox in this case. A problem that I have never experienced in Firefox.
One problem with Firefox in recent years is that when the user used the Print button, either in the Menu or the Toolbar button for Print, and goes thru the Print Preview screen the Print Range that the user selects in the native print dialog is ignored, at least as far as the Selection feature is concerned. Perhaps that is what is happening for your relative, but with the Pages feature now.
My suggestion is for that user to try printing via the keyboard command - { Ctrl + P } - and see if the Page selection works. That will open "the native print dialog" box directly, by-passing the Print Preview window.
One extension that I use and recommend, is Print Edit WE. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/print-edit-we/
But it may be overkill for your relative, with too many features. And I'm not sure it would fix that specific issue. May be worth a trial though.
Thanks I'll try that option, if it works maybe I can create a macro that works with a simple key stroke.