HTML5 Print button: Configuring what gets printed?

[Phlawm53]

I'm trying to configure an HTML5 Target's print button so it prints only topic content, NOT topic+toc.

The following screenshot illustrates:

• The default output produced by clicking the Print button in the Flare 8 HTML5 Skin Editor OR in default Flare 8 HTML5 Target outputs.
• The output produced by clicking the Print button in the online HTML5 instance of the Flare 8 OLH system at http://webhelp.madcapsoftware.com/flare8/Default.htm

FlareHTML5DefaultVersusConfiguredOperation.png

I'm trying to configure my HTML5 skin / output so that it to prints only topic content ala the Flare 8 OLH system ala the image on the right side (lack of actual content notwithstanding).

I suspect the solution is going to be a script of some sort? Alas, I've tried — and failed — to find information about this in the Flare 8 help and in Madcap's downloadable PDF guides. I've also tried searching this forum.

Can anyone please point me in the right direction?

Cheers & thanks,
Riley
SFO

[Nita Beck]

Riley, according to the release notes for 8.1, this was a known bug that was fixed:

49958 - Problem: HTML5 Print output does not exclude TOC,Nav bar, Search button and boxes

Are you using 8.1? If you are, then you might need to contact MadCap.

I verified in one of my HTML5 Help outputs that the Print button on the toolbar prints just the topic contents, none of the navigation.

[Phlawm53]

Uh oh:

Riley, according to the release notes for 8.1, this was a known bug that was fixed:

Thanks much for that info, Nita! However, as of a couple of days ago I'm running 8.1.2 — the latest greatest, as it were.

To be continued, it would seem…

Cheers & thanks 'gain,
Riley
SFO

[Phlawm53]

A small update while Madcap Support looks at the problem.

This now seems to be a browser dependency.

I had fallen into the habit of using the Standards Compliant! Opera 12 browser for testing. It's the only browser that seems to be manifesting the problem of printing both HTML5 topic content AND the HTML5 Help system's TOC.

Firefox 15, IE 9 64-bit, and Chrome all print only topic content (all, however, include an empty first page in the print output…)

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley
SFO

[RamonS]

Let's call Opera 12 HTML5 compatible...there are still a bunch of things that Opera seems not to support, see here: http://html5test.com/compare/browser/opera1200.html
In all fairness, all browsers are lacking complete HTML5 implementation, which is not that much of a surprise, because HTML5 is not a final standard and even if it would be implementations always (and unfortunately) vary. As far as HTML5 support is concerned, Chrome 21 takes the crown, but Chrome's UX is like a shoe box without shoes in it.

[kjordan]

Is it possible to control the format in which topics are printed from HTML 5 help files?

For example, I have a non-scrolling header for all topics in my help file, and if a user scrolls down in the help and then prints from the help file using the Print toolbar button. The header displays in the middle of the printed page - covering up useful text. I would like to have the header print at the top of the page regardless of whether the user has scrolled. Is this possible?

Thanks for your help.

[LTinker68]

How the help appears when printed from HTML5 output is controlled by styles in the @media print section of the stylesheet (aka, the print medium). In this case, you'd adjust the positioning-related attributes of the heading tag in the print medium.

[Phlawm53]

For what it's worth, one of the things I recently did as part of the follow-up to my printing issue was search for "CSS for print" ala:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=CSS+for+print

Lots and lots of useful and usable information.

Cheers & hope this helps,
Riley
SFO