Add print conditions to pdf
-
erinep23
- Sr. Propeller Head
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:54 pm
- Location: Austin, Texas
- Contact:
Add print conditions to pdf
So I am using the MadCap Advanced template- which I love - but I need to make it more printer-friendly for the one or two people that actually print out the pdf...bc there are some pages that are just gray. What's the trick for adding the condition that will allow pages to print without the fancy coloring style? I have attached a screenshot.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Re: Add print conditions to pdf
In short, I don't think you can do this.
In help targets, the browser will apply the print medium when you print the page; so the print medium could be used to set a more printer-friendly colour scheme, when you print from the browser.
However, once you've built a PDF, the PDF file doesn't have mediums (or CSS); so I can't see how you could set styles to be used when it is printed.
So I suspect that if the reader doesn't want backgrounds, it'll come down to what print options are available in the PDF viewer being used. Although I've seen options on browsers not to print backgrounds, I can't remember seeing anything obvious that's similar in Adobe Viewer.
In help targets, the browser will apply the print medium when you print the page; so the print medium could be used to set a more printer-friendly colour scheme, when you print from the browser.
However, once you've built a PDF, the PDF file doesn't have mediums (or CSS); so I can't see how you could set styles to be used when it is printed.
So I suspect that if the reader doesn't want backgrounds, it'll come down to what print options are available in the PDF viewer being used. Although I've seen options on browsers not to print backgrounds, I can't remember seeing anything obvious that's similar in Adobe Viewer.
-
erinep23
- Sr. Propeller Head
- Posts: 124
- Joined: Fri Jun 01, 2012 2:54 pm
- Location: Austin, Texas
- Contact:
Re: Add print conditions to pdf
Oh, that is a bummer! Thanks for the info though. Very useful.
-
doc_guy
- Propellus Maximus
- Posts: 1979
- Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 11:18 am
- Location: Crossroads of the West
- Contact:
Re: Add print conditions to pdf
Yeah, it is a bummer, but it is a limitation of PDF. You'd have to create a separate target with a separate page layout to do what you want.
It's especially lame-o for those who are printing with an inkjet printer. But it looks so nice on the screen!! (And it looks so nice on a 4 color offset press as well!! -- Wait, your customers aren't printing to a 4 color offset press?? Weird.)
It's especially lame-o for those who are printing with an inkjet printer. But it looks so nice on the screen!! (And it looks so nice on a 4 color offset press as well!! -- Wait, your customers aren't printing to a 4 color offset press?? Weird.)
Re: Add print conditions to pdf
That being said, it would be (relatively) easy to create a separate "printer friendly" target, though, yes? The downside is that you'd have another Table of Contents and maybe another Stylesheet (I'm not sure) to maintain, which may or may not be worth it for you.
Disclaimer: This is all very Jr. Propeller Head advice. The experts may have much better ways, or know why this whole thing is a bad idea.
Initial setup:
You'd have to make a new page layout without a dark background to replace every page layout that has a dark background. Additionally, you'd have to create styles that are visible on a light background, since the existing styles would not be very visible against, say, a white background. I think you'll need to create a separate stylesheet for this, unless there is some clever way to use mediums or something.
The target would just be a copy of the main target, but it would have to have its own Table of Contents I think, because the Page Layout that is tied to each topic is set in the TOC.
For the TOC, you'd just copy it and re-link the appropriate pages (usually every time there is a new chapter break) to the new page layouts with the white background that you created.
Ongoing maintenance:
Any time you change the PDF's ToC, you need to make sure the changes are mirrored in the "print friendly" target's ToC. You may not have to reflect every change in the stylesheet, but you would at least have to keep in mind whether a matching change is needed for the Print Friendly stylesheet.
Disclaimer: This is all very Jr. Propeller Head advice. The experts may have much better ways, or know why this whole thing is a bad idea.
Initial setup:
You'd have to make a new page layout without a dark background to replace every page layout that has a dark background. Additionally, you'd have to create styles that are visible on a light background, since the existing styles would not be very visible against, say, a white background. I think you'll need to create a separate stylesheet for this, unless there is some clever way to use mediums or something.
The target would just be a copy of the main target, but it would have to have its own Table of Contents I think, because the Page Layout that is tied to each topic is set in the TOC.
For the TOC, you'd just copy it and re-link the appropriate pages (usually every time there is a new chapter break) to the new page layouts with the white background that you created.
Ongoing maintenance:
Any time you change the PDF's ToC, you need to make sure the changes are mirrored in the "print friendly" target's ToC. You may not have to reflect every change in the stylesheet, but you would at least have to keep in mind whether a matching change is needed for the Print Friendly stylesheet.
-Dan, Propellerhead-in-training