Beautiful print to PDF
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What has struck me as frustrating is that no browser offers a feature to beautifully print the webpage to PDF. Changing the page size and font size is typically difficult or impossible, for example. So, I thought if Vivaldi does it well, it would be a nice feature. (I don't know how tough that would be, though.) Ryo
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If you ask me, this is not something to include in the browser.
Aren't there plugins for printers or something like that, that allow to print a page to PDF?I'd like to know the answer to that question, too! Are there plugins to Chrome or Firefox that give you beautiful and customizable PDF outputs?
But I'm a bit confused. You say "allow to print a page to PDF". If your goal is just to be able to print a webpage to a PDF file, then it's already possible: there are printer drivers that "prints" to PDF files. What I'm looking for is different. I want beautiful outputs and I want to customize them.
The PDF printer drivers don't help, in that respect: It's the browser that formats the page and sends the result to the driver. Therefore, to customize the output, you need to be able to change the way the browser formats the page.
Regards,
Ryo -
Web developers can specify special style sheet rules for printing to take into account the limited width and other properties of paper, but unfortunately not everyone does this, so the page gets rendered for printing the same, as for the screen.
There is no real solution to make it work, other than customizing the styles for every individual page.
Surely fonts (and sizes) can be automatically overridden, but there are still problems with cut-off content, unneeded elements etc. that are inherent to the individual page layout and style.What imho could (and probably should) be possible:
- force page rendering width to be narrow (like rendering on a tablet). This should especially work with responsive pages and reduce cut-off content
- set a custom zoom level
- Set minimal font-size (might be tricky with Blink)
- optionally remove images bigger than simple icons
- increase contrast
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I use Foxit - because in my opinion it's actually a much better PDF viewer than Adobe (smaller, faster, more customisable… sound familiar? ) (*)
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/
It has PDF editing and a PDF printer driver as standard, plus a Mozilla plugin for viewing in the browser.
If you install this, then just print the page and change the printer to "Foxit reader PDF printer"...
(* Personally, I always set it straight to "classic toolbar mode" from the help menu after installing to avoid having to deal with a stupid ribbon interface...)
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I use Foxit - because in my opinion it's actually a much better PDF viewer than Adobe (smaller, faster, more customisable… sound familiar? ) (*)
http://www.foxitsoftware.com/Secure_PDF_Reader/
It has PDF editing and a PDF printer driver as standard, plus a Mozilla plugin for viewing in the browser.
If you install this, then just print the page and change the printer to "Foxit reader PDF printer"...
(* Personally, I always set it straight to "classic toolbar mode" from the help menu after installing to avoid having to deal with a stupid ribbon interface...)
I use it since ages too.
I find the Typewriter function incredibly useful (you can compile on PCs the fields of preprint modules meant to be compiled by hand).
The amazon forest thanks.
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Regarding Foxit:
Thanks for the information! I wanted to try it but I didn't find a Mac version.So, without trying it, I have a question. Suppose you want to print a webpage. You go to the "Print" menu and choose Foxit as output. Then, how do you change the font size, paper size, margin, remove the background color, add or remove headers and footers, before actually generating the PDF? Or, do you mean you can edit the PDF to change those things afterward?
Regards,
Ryo
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What imho could (and probably should) be possible:
- force page rendering width to be narrow (like rendering on a tablet). This should especially work with responsive pages and reduce cut-off content
- set a custom zoom level
- Set minimal font-size (might be tricky with Blink)
- optionally remove images bigger than simple icons
- increase contrast
Thank you for the information. In that regard, what I want is effectively an "interactive style-sheet editor".
I imagine how it would work. When you choose the "print preview" menu item, there will be a "properties" panel on the right hand side of the main window, in which the webpage is being displayed. You can now change fonts, minimal fontsize, physical papersize, margins, background color, header, footer, maximum size of images, etc. As you change those parameters, the format of the main window changes accordingly. When you are satisfied, you hit the "Print" button beneath the page, and you get a desired printout or PDF. You can optionally save the edited style sheet somewhere, for later use as a template.
Ryo