Creating Passionate Users website printing problems solved in CSS

Letter to Kathy Sierra dated August 22nd, 2006, where I discovered some problems with printing pages from her blog: Creating Passionate Users.

This is a sidebar story to the blog post “See you at RailsConf, Europe this Thursday”

Hi Kathy.
I really enjoy your passionate articles on the blog.
I just found out that I had big problems printing your articles, as I want to use one of your articles as inspiration for a workshop.Print preview in Firefox shows the problem: The main article is printed on a page for itself (but has a “overflow:hidden” rule applied), which means that the article and all comments are ony given one page of print. Besides, left and right column are both printed on separate pages (which for me was a waste of paper: I want the article).I had a look at the HTML + CSS and found the problem. This added at the bottom of your CSS file should sort the problem:

@media print{
#center{
margin: 2em;
width: 90%;
overflow: auto;
}
#left{display:none}
#right{display:none}
}

If you want to use it, please do so. Let me know if you have any other questions.
I’ll appreciate if you’ll link to my blog at http://justaddwater.dk/ if you find it appropriate.

Kind regards,
Jesper

PS besides this, I also think you should add you logo to the print pages. Let me know if i can help you with that.
PPS. I’m attending RailsConf, and looking forward to see you presenting :)

—

—
Jesper Rønn-Jensen
Capgemini Danmark A/S
Oernegaardsvej 16
DK – 2820 Gentofte
Denmark
Blog: http://justaddwater.dk/

22 Responses to “Creating Passionate Users website printing problems solved in CSS”

  1. Jacob Angel Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 10:53 (GMT-1)

    I know this post is very old … but it popped up when I was looking for a CSS solution for WP.

    I’m curious, did you ever hear back from Kathy Sierra? How did she react to your suggestion?

  2. Costa Says:
    May 6th, 2009 at 08:38 (GMT-1)

    That is probably the exact reason why I get weird printouts of my site. CSS may be the culprit here. Adding media print to the sheet may help. I ll be applying the code to see if that changes it.

  3. Joe Says:
    May 11th, 2009 at 19:56 (GMT-1)

    Just like Jacob, I was looking for a solution for a CSS problem I was having with another WordPress site I have. Turns out this wasn’t the problem, but I kept the information anyway, in case I need it for future reference.

    CSS is really kicking my ass, lol

  4. Love R.F. Says:
    July 12th, 2009 at 20:08 (GMT-1)

    This is really SO very helpful, thanks for making this information available to everyone. I have been searching for a solution to the exact problem for the longest time!

    Best regards,
    Love R.F.

  5. florida moving company Says:
    July 16th, 2009 at 17:01 (GMT-1)

    Now I know why I sometimes get weird print outs if I tried printing a page(s) from a website.

  6. cristoper daniel Says:
    July 18th, 2009 at 13:14 (GMT-1)

    Hi dear friends, I really enjoy your passionate articles on the blog. I just found out that I had big problems printing your articles, as I want to use one of your articles.

  7. Taha YELKENCİ Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 17:40 (GMT-1)

    Now I know why I sometimes get weird print outs if I tried printing a page(s) from a website.

  8. Bizmut Blog Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 18:25 (GMT-1)

    I admire you for allocate this advice

  9. ali Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 18:49 (GMT-1)

    thanks for article

  10. koxp Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 18:59 (GMT-1)

    thaks man ..

  11. bedava film izle Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 19:15 (GMT-1)

    Thanks for this useful article

  12. Santraforlar Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 19:19 (GMT-1)

    thanks all you.

  13. kaliteli hosting Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 19:43 (GMT-1)

    thanks admin :)

  14. geyve Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 20:25 (GMT-1)

    Great article, thanks.

  15. Bağlama Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 20:25 (GMT-1)

    The main article is printed on a page for itself (but has a “overflow:hidden” rule applied), which means that the article and all comments are ony given one page of print. Besides, left and right column are both printed on separate pages (which for me was a waste of paper:

  16. Bodrum Otelleri Says:
    July 23rd, 2009 at 23:00 (GMT-1)

    Thank you for information

  17. zebra perde Says:
    July 24th, 2009 at 08:53 (GMT-1)

    Thank you very much for this nice article

  18. doğal bitkisel Ürünler Says:
    July 24th, 2009 at 15:47 (GMT-1)

    This is really SO very helpful, thanks for making this information available to everyone. I have been searching for a solution to the exact problem for the longest time!

  19. Perdele tapet Says:
    September 6th, 2009 at 18:46 (GMT-1)

    I hate overflow!! for @media print just take out graphics and colors

  20. Vector Graphics Says:
    January 2nd, 2012 at 04:56 (GMT-1)

    After reading this, I head over to my site to see the print preview function in firefox. Not surprisingly it’s a bit of a mess to say the least. I have actually never considered the print function as the site mostly deals with graphics and most visitors use the download option instead of print. Will have to think this over.

  21. Uroda Says:
    January 7th, 2012 at 23:04 (GMT-1)

    So what was her response? Did she linked to your blog from hers?

  22. Film x Says:
    January 9th, 2012 at 12:48 (GMT-1)

    You have a nice carreer, great !

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