Printing Colored backgrounds

[Lesley Williams]

I have an annoying problem which surfaces frequently. Our library offers 
public access to several terminals which run Netscape, and have printers. 
Every so often, someone wants to print a page containing colors and 
backgrounds that won't print.

When this happens on the staff machines, I simply show the person how to 
change the color preferences to get plain black print on a grey 
background. On the public access computers, however, we have blocked 
access to the preferences menu, making this simple procedure a very 
complicated matter.

What to do? We don't want to leave preference functions open to our 
patrons. We don't want to permanently set the color preferences to plain 
backgrounds, since most people like to see the original colors even if 
they can't print them. Is there a way to permanently set the color 
preferences *for printing only* to a plain, printable background? Or if 
not, a simple way for the desk staff, (none of whom are expert 
programmers) to fix the color problem?

Any suggestions welcome and greatly appreciated!


Opinions expressed above are solely those of the author, not an official 
communication of the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.

Lesley Williams	                                   tel 847-506-2667
Electronic Resources Specialist                    fax 847-506-2636
Arlington Heights Memorial Library                 lwilliam at nslsilus.org
Arlington Heights IL  USA
                        
                           www.nslsilus.org/ahmlhome