Printing (only if you really need to!)

On-screen and on-paper reading demands different layouts. In the past (and still today, in some websites), a 'print-friendly version' was provided. This meant that the web author had to keep track of two versions of each page: we're not really into that twentieth-century way of thinking (or into doubling our workload). Instead, we have structured our pages' underlying styles to try to give the best layout for each automatically (the style-commands are designed to work differently for screen and print). We have the basic layouts in place, and we'll be working to provide improvements. An example of the way things are going: the foreign-language text which is translated in a tip-box on-screen has the English in brackets after the foreign term on paper (go on, try a print preview of the text-tips page and find the Swedish: unless you're using Internet Explorer — see below). This is a feature which we have built into the stylesheet which determines how our content is printed, so as well as the fact that we think it's a helpful addition, it is a good test of a browser's ability to obey the stylesheet with which it claims to be compatible.

It is remarkable how different a web page can look if it is printed on different browsers. We tried one of our QEDLife posts for size, and none of the browsers printed everything exactly as we'd expect.

• Chrome was probably closest to our expectations: the text was the size we specified, and the pictures appeared in roughly the same relationship to the text that we have in the on-screen page. Within words, the text is a bit tighter than we'd prefer, but otherwise is pleasing. The translation hover-tip is printed after the foreign term, just as we tried to organise. Our page watermark did not print.
• Firefox was very close too: very similar to Chrome. The within-word letter spacing was more pleasing, and the translation tips worked equally well. Once again, the watermark did not appear, and the text and graphics were printed separately (some might find that useful).
• Internet Explorer was the only one of our Famous Five to print the watermark (even though some others also showed it in preview). Text and graphics were separated, as with Firefox, but the graphic was sheared off after a single side of A4. Translation-tips resolutely refuse to print.
• Opera was decidedly odd. Text and graphics separated like Firefox and IE, but though the graphic was scaled to fit on a page (good), the text was scaled down similarly on its separate page, and the area where the graphic would have been expected was left blank, wasting the opportunity to use the space for text at its prescribed size. Translation tips worked, but the watermark did not. Spacing within and between words was very crammed, with some words apparently run together.
• Safari would have been a good front-runner, except that the text size was shrunk. Translation-tips worked, but no watermark.

So, none is perfect. To keep faith with the original layout (almost), Chrome and Safari, but the latter only works if you have good eyesight. Separating text and graphics, Firefox and IE (though IE doesn't work as well for monoglots). Opera only if you must.

Second-best option for paper-saving is Chrome. Best option, of course, is not to print at all.