Printable Version

DiceMasterNick
DiceMasterNick
edited March 2010 in Feature Requests
For numerous reasons which will go un-named, I think that there should be a printable version of a campaign webpage. Many websites have a button that changes the format/layout of a webpage so that it fits better onto a 81/2 by 11' sheet of paper.
Id like to be able to print off a couple of pages from my wiki without all the objects that appear at the top and right of the page (DM profile, advertisement, recent updates, ect). Notes how the editable content (the part the user creates) and the campaign banner are margined in; if we could just pop that out to full screen, it would be much more printable.
And this doesnt have to eliminate the effectiveness of the advertisement, because as soon as any link is clicked on from the "printable view" the format should return to the "normal view" as it loads the hyper linked page.

P.S. anyone have any ideas on how to print off a "neat" page in the mean time?

Comments

  • arsheesh
    arsheesh
    Posts: 850
    Hey what a great idea! I'm not technically savvy enough to now how to print off a "neat" page, so having a dummy button that would simplify the task for me would be incredibly helpful.
  • sandman
    sandman
    Posts: 155
    I agree with you guys, nice request.
  • ChainsawXIV
    ChainsawXIV
    Posts: 530 edited March 2010
    The site already uses a print media style sheet to accomplish this to a degree. A print media style sheet defines different display parameters for the page when it's seen in print than when it's shown on screen. If you print out or print preview a page from your wiki, you'll see a number of differences (font size, spacing, and so on) on the printed page as compared to what you see on screen, and that's driven by this common HTML feature.

    In my opinion however, the current print sheet it not what it could be. It makes a lot of changes that are unnecessary to downright unhelpful (changing line spacing, font, and font size, and adding the URL of every link after the link itself for example, all of which can break carefully designed page layouts), and doesn't do some things it should (such are removing all the site's interface elements). For a faithful rendering of the page's content on paper, the print style sheet should contain only and exactly the following:

    #header, #secondary-column, #footer, #campaign-header, .page-footer, .hide { display: none; }

    When I print out my pages, I save them on my own machine, and edit them to use this revised print style sheet. It works well, but it's a significant extra step, and not at all ideal for the non-web-savvy amongst us. I would love if they would update the official print media sheet to something like the above, and make an effort to educate the users about the existence of this very stealthy but extremely useful and valuable feature.
    Post edited by ChainsawXIV on
  • DiceMasterNick
    DiceMasterNick
    Posts: 56 edited March 2010
    My point exactly ChainsawXIV,
    If I want to print a page as is, I have to significantly decrease the margins just to fit the page properly, and I still end up with all the extra stuff taking up space on my page. So I to am reduced to copy/paste to word.doc for edit and even editing 4-5 pages of wiki content in word.doc can take a pain staking amount of time.
    Post edited by DiceMasterNick on
  • vstraydogstrutv
    vstraydogstrutv
    Posts: 209
    Good on ya, Nick. I support this request.
  • Tempest
    Tempest
    Posts: 25
    I'd have to concur, it would be nice to hit a button, have a window pop up with the printer friendly, hit print and close that window and go back to what I was doing.
  • vstraydogstrutv
    vstraydogstrutv
    Posts: 209
    I'd like to refresh this topic. When it first popped up, I could see the benefit of being able to print certain pages. Now that I have something I'd like to be able to print, the benefit graduated to a "gimme gimme gimme" feature status in my brain. To throw an idea out: The characters tab. If nothing else, I think the characters tab would most benefit from having a print button. For those of us who store copies of the character's stats on the site (in the event that someone forgets their character sheet), it would be nice to be able to simply print whatever is there instead of having to waste valuable table-time waiting for someone to fill out their character sheet again. Maybe a print this section button? It would select, for example, the description field and print it. Or perhaps someone writes some fantastic fluff and wants a hard copy. Again, the print field button would be amazing.

    Like I said, just refreshing the topic. If you agree, however, make sure to post so we could get it bumped up on the list-o'-things for Micah to head-ache about ^.^v
  • ChainsawXIV
    ChainsawXIV
    Posts: 530
    I'm a little surprised we haven't seen this change yet. It doesn't even require a button, or any functionality what so ever in fact. Make the simple style sheet change I mentioned in my previous post, and it's as simple as Control + P. The page will simply print out correctly, right from the browser, no fuss, no muss. The print style sheet is even there already - it just needs to be adjusted to produce better output.
  • Ferdil
    Ferdil
    Posts: 7 edited September 2010
    I also would find use in this feature. I am about to fill the wiki with campaign content and would like to be able to print the wiki pages.

    Edit: I see ChainsawXIV already has all the changes set up on "this post":http://forums.obsidianportal.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=846&page=1#Item_0, please include them.
    Post edited by Ferdil on
  • Curufea
    Curufea
    Posts: 161
    A print stylesheet is also a good step towards making a website mobile friendly IMHO.
  • Ferdil
    Ferdil
    Posts: 7
    I would also suggest that the new stylesheet keeps div backgrounds unchanged and not white, it messes up my custom formatting.
  • Ferdil
    Ferdil
    Posts: 7
    bump?
  • ChainsawXIV
    ChainsawXIV
    Posts: 530
    With backgrounds, it's actually your browser that's turning those off most likely. There's generally an options setting for printing backgrounds, which defaults to on, and is designed to save ink or some such thing.
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