Printer-friendly is a term used on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

to describe a version of a web page formatted for

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...

. Normally, web pages include information and navigation content that is only useful while browsing the website. Printer-friendly pages are designed to fit on an 8.5"x11" or A4 sheet (see

paper size Paper size standards govern the size of sheets of paper used as writing paper, stationery, cards, and for some printed documents. The ISO 216 standard, which includes the commonly used A4 size, is the international standard for paper size. I ...

s) and include only the content (plain text and images) of the page, along with source information. Inline hyperlinks become ordinary text, links on the margins may or may not be shown. Additionally link target URLs may be shown. Navigation tools such as on-screen menus are not included. Printer-friendly pages are used not only for printing onto paper, but also for storage on machine-readable media such as

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

floppy disks A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined wi ...

or CD-ROMs. They are usually accessed through a link on the standard page. Often the link will be indicated by a

printer Printer may refer to: Technology * Printer (publishing), a person or a company * Printer (computing), a hardware device * Optical printer for motion picture films People * Nariman Printer (fl. c. 1940), Indian journalist and activist * James ...

icon. There are several ways that

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

pages can be easily made printer friendly. One way is to use

JavaScript JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of websites use JavaScript on the client side for webpage behavior, of ...

, which can be used to create a printer-friendly version of a website page by hiding elements of the page that are not required for printing. This way, all of the content can be laid out on an 8.5"x11" or A4 sheet in an orderly fashion. Another way to create printer-friendly web pages is to use a CSS style sheet. A CSS style sheet is a set of instructions that tell the

web browser A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used o ...

how to display a web page. By using a separate style sheet specifically for

, a web page can be laid out to fit on an 8.5"x11" or A4 sheet. The most important thing to remember when creating printer-friendly web pages is to keep the layout simple. Avoid using complicated text formatting and

images An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensiona ...

, as these can cause problems when

. Also, remember to include source information on the page, such as the website address and the date the page was

printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The e ...

External links

CSS Design: Going to Print
Web design {{Web-stub