Print missing lots of content

mur...@focus-computing.com.au

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Mar 6, 2012, 9:25:24 PM3/6/12

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Hi folks

Just checking in here before I raise a bug. The on screen display looks fine but the print or print preview misses most of the content of this page.

You can test this at this page:
http://cabinetsonline.com.au/test4.html

I've removed all of the Javascript and CSS (apart from the inline CSS) and validated it against the W3C validator. I also ran the HTML through 'Tidy' to ensure everything was nicely balanced. Seems to be fine.

When loaded it looks fine on screen but when you go to 'Print preview' or 'Print' most of the middle content of the page is missing.

I'm running on Debian Linux with FF 10.0.2 (the up-to-date version) that shows the error.
I tested this on Windows with FF - same error.
I tested this on Windows with Safari - worked fine.
I tested this on Windows with Chrome - worked fine.
I tested this on Windows with IE - worked fine.

Cheers
Murray

Beauregard T. Shagnasty

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Mar 6, 2012, 10:18:37 PM3/6/12

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murray wrote:

> Hi folks
>
> Just checking in here before I raise a bug. The on screen display looks
> fine but the print or print preview misses most of the content of this
> page.
>
> You can test this at this page:
> http://cabinetsonline.com.au/test4.html

For starters, your page doesn't have a proper DOCTYPE. The page is
running in Quirks Mode. I'd suggest for a first step adding a full legal
DOCTYPE.

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

You should also remove the XHTML end-of-element slashes, since you
haven't declared XHTML. (XHTML is dead.)

These guys: <br /> and the /> in the head section, should be just <br>
and just a >.

<http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%
2Fcabinetsonline.com.au%2Ftest4.html>
Errors found while checking this document as XHTML 1.0 Transitional!
Result: 101 Errors, 1 warning(s)

In my opinion, Firefox is less tolerant of errors than most other
browsers (which I think is a good thing).

--
-bts
-This space for rent, but the price is high

mur...@focus-computing.com.au

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Mar 6, 2012, 10:55:04 PM3/6/12

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Hi bts

> For starters, your page doesn't have a proper DOCTYPE. The page is
> running in Quirks Mode. I'd suggest for a first step adding a full legal
> DOCTYPE.
>
> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
> "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

Done.

> You should also remove the XHTML end-of-element slashes, since you
> haven't declared XHTML. (XHTML is dead.)

Done.

> These guys:

> and the /> in the head section, should be just

> and just a >.

Done.

> <http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A%2F%
> 2Fcabinetsonline.com.au%2Ftest4.html>
> Errors found while checking this document as XHTML 1.0 Transitional!
> Result: 101 Errors, 1 warning(s)

Now it gives me "Passed"

I'm happy to fix the HTML to be as accurate as necessary.
I still am experiencing the bug described.

Do you get a similar result?

Cheers
Murray

Beauregard T. Shagnasty

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Mar 6, 2012, 11:05:41 PM3/6/12

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No. Now that you've fixed all those errors, I see a page preview of 19
pages, exactly like it looks in the browser. I did not send it to the
printer and use up 19 sheets of paper. I'm using 10.0.2 in Ubuntu.

I'll add this, though. Firefox comes from Netscape roots, and Netscape
always had a bit of trouble with nested tables - but normally only when
there were HTML errors.

For your next task <g> consider moving all that inline CSS into your
external file and use classes and IDs instead.

mur...@focus-computing.com.au

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Mar 7, 2012, 9:04:47 AM3/7/12

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Hi bts

> > I'm happy to fix the HTML to be as accurate as necessary. I still am
> > experiencing the bug described. Do you get a similar result?
>
> No. Now that you've fixed all those errors, I see a page preview of 19
> pages, exactly like it looks in the browser. I did not send it to the
> printer and use up 19 sheets of paper. I'm using 10.0.2 in Ubuntu.

Options:
a) You could use the 'Print preview' option on your File menu (that's what I do)
b) Or you can print to a PDF writer

> I'll add this, though. Firefox comes from Netscape roots, and Netscape
> always had a bit of trouble with nested tables - but normally only when
> there were HTML errors.

That was my thinking - that there must be some HTML conflict causing it. I've use nested tables in lots of other places and they all seem to work okay... perhaps I need to start weeding chunks out until it works properly.

> For your next task <g> consider moving all that inline CSS into your
> external file and use classes and IDs instead.

Generally I do that, my CSS file is 12kb and you will see a number of "class" attributes on my html. Sometimes, however, the effort of creating the CSS entries is greater than that required to add a little inline CSS.

Cheers
Murray

Beauregard T. Shagnasty

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Mar 7, 2012, 9:35:23 AM3/7/12

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murray wrote:

> Hi bts
>
>> > I'm happy to fix the HTML to be as accurate as necessary. I still am
>> > experiencing the bug described. Do you get a similar result?
>>
>> No. Now that you've fixed all those errors, I see a page preview of 19
>> pages, exactly like it looks in the browser. I did not send it to the
>> printer and use up 19 sheets of paper. I'm using 10.0.2 in Ubuntu.
>
> Options:
> a) You could use the 'Print preview' option on your File menu (that's
> what I do) b) Or you can print to a PDF writer

Sure, that's what I did: File > Print Preview. (I see above I wrote
"page" preview, but that is what I meant.

My Ubuntu does have a "Print to File" option, where I can select .ps
or .pdf

Dave Pyles

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Mar 7, 2012, 10:36:58 AM3/7/12

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According to the Ubuntu forum the option to print to PDF is built into
the system:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1803917
Dave Pyles

Beauregard T. Shagnasty

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Mar 7, 2012, 11:49:41 AM3/7/12

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Dave Pyles wrote:

> Beauregard T. Shagnasty wrote:
>> My Ubuntu does have a "Print to File" option, where I can select .ps or
>> .pdf
>>
> According to the Ubuntu forum the option to print to PDF is built into
> the system:
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1803917 Dave Pyles

Exactly.

mur...@focus-computing.com.au

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Mar 7, 2012, 6:07:35 PM3/7/12

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I am mystified!

My Print preview gives me 3 pages.

By default I'm on A4 (being in Australia) so I changed it to US Letter and tried again, 10 pages. Changed it back to A4, 3 pages.

I have 3 printer options:

"Any Printer" with A4 = 3 pages, with US Letter = 10 pages
"Brother HL3040" with A4 = 8 pages, with US Letter = 17 pages
"PDF (from CUPS)" with A4 = 3 pages, with US Letter = 13 pages

In every case there is part of the cabinets / panels section of the pahe missing. Although A4 and US Letter are different sizes it is not that significant to afford these differences in the number of pages generated.

I went to my Windows machine and tried it there on FF 10.0.2
"Brother HL3040" with A4 = 13 pages
"CutePDF writer" with A4 = 5 pages

Still on the Windows machine I ran "firefox -safe-mode" and disabled all the plugins:
"Brother HL3040" with A4 = 13 pages

Time for some pictures. This is how I see it:
http://cabinetsonline.com.au/test4-ff-preview.png
And how it should look:
http://cabinetsonline.com.au/test4-chrome-correct.png

(PS It doesn't always break at the same point, but I do always get this overlap thing happening)

This was reported to me by my clients (all using FF), and I confirmed it was happening on the two FF machines I had. So far, I haven't found any FF installation where it has worked - which makes me wonder what is different between your setup and all of these other setups.
The A4/US Letter thing was the only significant difference (along with the timezone which I don't suspect is a problem). Could you try print preview after selecting A4 paper size please - is it still generating the 19 pages?

Cheers
Murray

Keith Nuttle

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Mar 7, 2012, 6:29:04 PM3/7/12

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Here are some suggestions.

First it looks like there is a difference in the font, which would cause
the page to appear larger and overflow the set margin. What caught my
eye in the two images was the fact that in the one the body of the
letter appears to run over the "Quality delivered" (?Text)

This could be caused by bad code in the original document that is
translated differently by the two programs. There is a chance that it
has to do with the orientation of the paper Landscape vs. Portrait.

Second: In the Print Preview there is a window for controlling the zoom
factor. I have mine set to Shrink to Fit.