Question

Topic: Taglines/Names

Printing A Co. Name As Part Of A Webpage Graphic

Posted by Anonymous on 8/6/2010 at 10:10 AM ET 500 Points
Here's hopping someone out there has a quick answer...

A designer who's creating a website for one of my clients is telling me that browsers now control whether or not graphics on a web page will print when a site visitor clicks on a Print This Page link.

The problem I'm having is that the client's name and contact info are included in the graphic that is at the the top of every page of the site, so if that graphic does not print, any printouts of those pages will NOT include my client's contact info, thus making the value of those printed page Zero!

Could the designer is telling me a tale because he can't or doesn't know how to get that graphic-with-contact-info to print, or is he telling the truth when he says that browers no longer allow the printing of graphics because people don't want to spend the extra money on toner cartridges.

The reason I'm asking is that using the latest version of IE, I can print complete pages - graphics and all - of almost any site I visit.

I've got a strange feeling this guy is telling this tale to cover up what he can't or doesn't want to do, perhaps because he didn't include the additional time or effort in his original price quote.

Phil

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/6/2010 at 11:38 AM Accepted
    Many web browsers have options to prevent the background graphics from printing. However, the printing of the website itself is controlled by the website's style sheet (if CSS, for example). Just like websites can look differently on different platforms (in different browsers, appliances, etc.) the website designer can control how the website appears when printed out.

    It's unclear what the problem the designer is telling you - which browser/platform will the page not appear correctly?
  • Posted by mgoodman on 8/6/2010 at 1:19 PM Moderator
    FWIW, I recently tried to print a webpage and got blanks where the images should have been. I was using Firefox, and don't really know why it didn't print the pictures. My solution at the time was to do a screen capture and print that. Never went back to see if there's some setting on my browser that might be the culprit, or if the image prints OK using MSIE. (I may have to try that now.)

    I suspect your designer is reporting the effect of some new browser settings that can be changed, but might be set for a do-not-print-images default.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 8/6/2010 at 1:31 PM Accepted
    I just went back to that same page and tried to print it in MSIE and Firefox, with the same result: no images showed up. I obviously have the same concern you do (re: phone numbers in the image). I've asked our tech guys the question and will let you know what I learn.
  • Posted by Levon on 8/6/2010 at 2:27 PM Member
    Depends on the browser.
  • Posted by modza on 8/6/2010 at 2:56 PM Accepted
    It's always a good idea to have plain text for key info like name, phone, in case images are not available for any number of reasons, not just when printing the page. Vision-impaired people, up to 20% of the population, depend on devices that read the "alt text" for images, so make sure there's an alt for every important image, including navigation links. (There are specs for that, required for all federal web sites, but optional for the rest. Optional but desirable!) Mobile devices, esp. older ones, often have limited browsers that suppress the images. People in countries that pay by the megabyte or by time hate HTML email because it costs them more to read than plain text. It should not take more than 5 minutes to fit in plain text for just name & number -- but be prepared to pay for an hour if the design is very tight and unforgiving about extras. Alternatively, if you're getting a Content Management System so you (or other non-techies) can update the site, you can add the text yourself.
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