[thelist] Automatic Print .PDF?

aardvark roselli at earthlink.net
Sat Oct 12 11:02:00 CDT 2002


> From: "Janet FitzGerald" <waxplanet at sunflower.com>
>
> I was wondering if it's possible to code a page to automatically print
> a .pdf when the user tries to File/Print from the browser.  We are
> building an online gallery that has a printable .pdf.  We don't want
> the user to inadvertently print the web page thinking they are
> printing the .pdf.  Does that make sense?

well, no, not quite...

the browser will try to print the page it sees, and as far as i know,
there is no scripting to modify that behavior (thankfully)...

what you might want to consider is telling the user that there is a
PDF available for the page being viewed, and that it's much nicer...

or consider using a 'printer' icon which, when clicked, beings up the
PDF (perhaps in a new window?)... of course, you need to manage the
user's expectations before you push a 500k PDF down their 56k line...
consider an alert, a tooltip, text beneath the icon, etc...

--
Read the evolt.org case study
Usability: The Site Speaks for Itself
http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904151035/evoltorg02-20
ISBN: 1904151035





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