Benefits of Print CSS
Posted by Michael Dale on Sat, 18 Sep 2004 9:38 AMThe nature of the internet means that it has always meant to be viewed on the computer. But there are many times when you need to quickly print something to read while you're on your way out, or in my case want to go to bed but MUST read some 23 page article on something first. Most sites often screw up when you try and print them. The content and layout is combined into some mess.
Now the separation of content is much more important that most people think. On a computer you're going to want the "full experience" where as if you're on your mobile phone or pda you really just want to see the content. It is the same for printing, you only want the content.
This is another benefit of CSS (more here: http://blog.dalegroup.net/archive/blog/newsid/126).
Josh added a print CSS (the CSS file that will be used when printing) to his website this morning and I think it is a great idea. Thus I have followed suit. Instead of writing a new file I decided to just use my "no style" file. Found here: http://blog.dalegroup.net/?setstyle=0 (so you can use it if you're using wap etc).
In this process I also made it so that the links on the side are displayed at the bottom of the page when printing, hopefully this will increase accessibility for all.
ADDED: Here is an example of an old team project that uses a really bad way of printing content: http://ajbcc.asn.au/ The main problem with that site is there is very little CSS used for the style, it is all "hard coded".
Thanks for the comments. I've setup a WAP/handheld CSS (which is just the old one) and I've changed the Print CSS. It no longer displays the sidebar links or this comments section. I should see if my phone identifies itself as a handheld.
Okay cool, it does. This is being posted from my phone! Funky.
Don't overdose on class, and ...
*puts down pillz*
Interesting. I do like the idea of making people pay tons of money to see my site, but unfortunately I don't get to see a cent of it. Oh well. I am remaking my site (quickly, tho) in CSS because I am bored. Same layout, fewer images. Not that there is that many images, anyway.
Thanks for the "indirect reminder." I have to allow this for some for some of my sites too. I tend to forget...
Yeah most (well 95%) of people who make websites don't even think about it.
Hah, your linking to this from the forums reminded me my most recent theme didn't have a print stylesheet. I've added one to avoid embarrassment, but noticed yours seems to be empty here, too :P
Yeah I noticed that too! I think I've got one, it just isn't working. When I'm back home I shall look at it.
Ammendment: No, I published a sub-page which made use of print CSS styles this morning. My blogsite has had that print stylesheet since it was publicly launched.
I like the idea of a WAP stylesheet -- but I don't think that stylesheet (the one you linked in the above post) is good for printing. You don't need to render those links in the printed version, because paper doesn't work as hypertext -- set those elements to display:none or something for your print stylesheet, and display them at the top or bottom of your WAP version, depending on their relevance.
WAP and printing have fairly different requirements, in that printing is linear and requires no form of navigation, whilst WAP functions as barebones hypertext. I'd fairly seriously consider using two completely different stylesheets for both your WAP and print mediums. (using media="type")
The W3C publishes a list of media types here http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/types.html#type-media-descriptors , although support for these across various devices will not always be great. The latest issue of A List Apart can be found here http://www.alistapart.com/articles/pocket/ , and discusses the use of "The Small Screen".