Browser Printing

[tsensenbach]

Hello,

I am new to Robohelp and have built a nice help project that I have integrated into my web application. My application is also browser based and I use Adobe for all my printing needs from within the application as we know the browser does not handle printing well. How can I integrate better printing from the online help? I really do not want to load anything on the client other than adobe reader. Since Adobe now owns Robohelp is there an easy way to integrate Adobe into my HTML help in order to allow better printing? Are there any other options (including ones that require client installs) that facilitate better printing from HTML help?

I am currently on Robohelp HTML version 5.0.2 build 801.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards, Todd.

[Peter Grainge]

Welcome to the forum.

You say the browser does not handle printing well. To some extent that depends on the browser but what are the issues you dislike?

Other than using the browser's print function, I think the only other options are to generate each topic as a PDF and add a button that allows that topic to be printed that way or to create a full PDF manual that can be accessed from the online help and printed in whole or in part.

The first is quite a lot of work (if you have many topics) and I suspect the users would likely accept the browser print for just the odd topic here and there. They want information and looks are secondary. They might print the whole thing to get a printed manual.

[tsensenbach]

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the quick reply!

Maybe I am simply missing something here.... I generate my html help project as WebHelp project. When I go to a topic in the help file that is bigger than the window can display it adds a scroll bar. If I try and print this topic with the browser print it does a print screen, not a topic print. Basically, the entire topic is not printed. It only prints what I can see on the screen. The users are not going to like the fact that they have to print the current screen and then scroll down and print screen again to get the entire topic.


This is the main limitation I see with the browser printing. Maybe there is a work around for this limitation?

Is there anyway to print a topic from the HTML help without doing the print screen thing?

Thanks Todd.

[Peter Grainge]

There is something wrong with your browser set up. Every browser I have used would print the topic.

Are you using the PrtScr key or the browser's Print Icon / File - Print options.

[tsensenbach]

Hi Peter,

Again, thanks for your quick response!

I am using the print icon (and the print function from the file menu) from the browser, not the PrtScn key.

I am using IE 7.0 on my computer and another person here has IE 6.x on their PC and both computers are doing the same thing: the browser doing a print screen when we do a print from the browser.

I have looked through IE's settings and there is nothing in regards to printing other than back ground options (which I have optioned off). Are there some settings within IE that maybe I have missed?

What I am seeing here I have seen with a lot of different web sites. I have seen a lot of "Printer Friendly" things out there to get around issues like this. I am trying to do something similar here.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Todd.

[Peter Grainge]

Let's be quite clear.

The webhelp comes up in a tripane. Across the top is a toolbar, bottom left is the TOC and bottom right (taking most of the width) is the topic.

If that topic goes below the visible area, you get a scrollbar so that you can view any part of it on screen.

You are saying that if you go to File | Print you will only get the visible part printed?

Open such a topic and "print" it but print it to PDF. Also hit PrtScr and paste that into a Word document. Mail both files to me via my site.

Also go a page on my site such as Printed Documentation. Same problem there? It should be about 15 pages printed but you would just get one or maybe two.

[tsensenbach]

Hi Peter,

Yes, you are correct.... I am looking at a tripane as you describe.

Yes, you are correct... I only can see what is in the browser on the printed page.

When I print from your website I get what we would expect! It prints the entire topic. We may be on to something here. I am not sure what is amiss with my webhelp project that may be causing this?

I have attached both a PDF and the word doc you asked for. Funny thing is the PDF does not show the topic, just the TOC. When I print to a printer I get both the TOC and topic in the print screen manner I have described.



Regards, Todd.

[MergeThis · Accepted solution]

The key is to select the Options tab in the Print window, in which you then select the Only the selected frame option.

The browser sees multiple frames and will print them all, unless you tell it differently, as in the above.


Good luck,
Leon

[tsensenbach]

Hi Leon,

Thanks! That did it.

Regards, Todd.

[Peter Grainge]

When you said you only got part of the topic, I thought that is what you meant. That the bit of the topic in the screen print you sent was all that printed. I think what you meant by part was that you just got the TOC, that is not the topic and hence the confusion.

No worries. The show's on the road thanks to Leon.