19. The Web at a Glance: Printing a Web Page

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Most web browsers have a Print feature that allows you to print the contents of a page. The Print feature is usually found in one of two places:

• In the Menu Bar, under File.
• Under the Toolbar’s Menu Button.

Some browsers have a Print button built into the Toolbar, but that is not very common. If you have one, it will usually have a picture of a printer on it.

Before printing a web page, you should consider whether printing the page is the best way to accomplish what you are trying to accomplish.

• If you want to save the page for later reference, you could Bookmark the page. Just click the Star icon next to the address bar.
• If you want to send the page to someone, you could send them an email, with a link to the page.
• If you want to share the page with several people, you could share the link on Facebook.
• If you just want to save or share a specific picture, not the whole page, you could just download the image. Then you could print or share it, without having to print the whole page.
• If you just want to print the text, and not all the other things on the page, you could Copy-and-Paste the text into another document (like Word, for example), and then print that. This allows you, and the people you share the print with, to focus on the text.

Web pages are designed to be viewed on a screen, not printed on paper. There will often be differences between what you see on the screen and what you see when you print it out.

• Background images and colors don’t usually print.
• Images may be smaller, or appear in a different place, or not print at all.
• Colors are often different.
• Fonts are often different.
• Menus and sidebars may or may not appear in the printed document.