Printer Friendly Version

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I'm not sure if PHP is what I should be using for this, and I'm not even sure if the code will even be in use in the final version of the page, but:

Is it possible to create a printer-friendly version of a page via PHP? For example, at the bottom of most article-based sites, there's a link to a "Printer-Friendly Version" that removes backgrounds, non-essential images, what have you, and only leaves the content, easily printable.

Again, I'm not even certain if PHP is the right tool for this job, but I've just started coding in PHP and, frankly, I'm like a giddy child: I really enjoy this language! 🆒

leatherback

Hi,

yes. And no.

With PhP you could of course build a section with and without decoration so there si a printable version, where wnhen you link to it., you add a variable to the link, such as href=thispage.php?$printable=yes

But better / perhaps easier is using CSS: Cascading stylesheets. There you define the way the different elements of you rpage are displayed, and you have the option to set different media type, such as screen and printer. Check:

http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/

and the different section they have. (specifically: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/media.html )

Hope this helps,

Jelle

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Originally posted by leatherback
Hi,

yes. And no.

With PhP you could of course build a section with and without decoration so there si a printable version, where wnhen you link to it., you add a variable to the link, such as href=thispage.php?$printable=yes

But better / perhaps easier is using CSS: Cascading stylesheets. There you define the way the different elements of you rpage are displayed, and you have the option to set different media type, such as screen and printer. Check:

http://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/

and the different section they have. (specifically: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/media.html )

Hope this helps,

Jelle

Actually, it did help. I was torn, as my site uses CSS to begin with, and logically CSS would be able to do what I need it to do, and I'm already familiar with it, as opposed to PHP which I'm just learning.

But, y'know how it goes. 🙂 Wanna use PHP to do everything. Hell, I've about 25% done with a PHP script that will urinate for me. 🆒 But if it crashes...hoo, boy, does it crash. 😉

cjdesign

Hi,

I have a printer friendly script on my website for download.

http://www.cj-design.com/?id=index&cat=downloads/printerfriendly

Hope that helps

James