[WEB4LIB] Can printing from a website be limited?

[Andrew I. Mutch]

Greg can correct me if I'm wrong but I think his question is from the
end-user viewpoint:

"Why is this page not printing and is the site that it is coming from
somehow able to restrict the ability to print the page?"

I've occasionally run into this situation myself and it most often happens
with pages created on the fly using CGI or a related method.  Apparently,
this prevents the browser from capturing the page for printing.  Also, a
"page" in a java application often can not be printed.  If you have screen
capture software, you can probably capture the image of the page although
this is impractical for anything other than occasional use.

Netscape versions 3 and 4 can be configured to force black text in
printing.  Go to File -- Page Setup -- select Black Text.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library 
Waterford, MI  


On Mon, 14 Jun 1999 gbarkovi at sfu.ca wrote:

> I am new to this list so please forgive me if this has been covered before.
> 
> We are wondering if, for copyright or other reasons, printing from a website can be technically limited or restricted? I presume that whatever can be displayed on somebody's pc can at least be printed by screen capture programs. Although I have had patrons ask why certain sites are not printing out. I have presumed that it is often because of the color layout - usually a dark/black background. Whether this is intended to restrict printing or not, I am not sure.
> 
> Does anyone have anything to share about this?
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> 
> Greg Barkovich
> Burnaby Public Library
> British Columbia, Canada
> 
>