[WEB4LIB] Ballooning print jobs with Netscape 6.2

[Andrew I. Mutch]

Bob,

I remember seeing these print jobs in older versions of Mozilla and
probably Netscape too. If I can track down the bug in Bugzilla on it, I'll
post it. I think Netscape is to blame in this case.

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



On Wed, 13 Nov 2002, Bob Duncan wrote:

> 
> After frequent log jams in our print queues lately, we've identified the 
> culprit as print jobs which spool into huge jobs when users try to print 
> from certain Web resources using Netscape 6.2 (Win).  Jobs which would show 
> up in a printer's properties as 15-20k when printed from IE6 or Netscape 
> 4.7x are spooling into the 40-50MB range when printed from Netscape 6.2 
> (they never actually print).
> 
> The problem only occurs for certain resources---two we have identified are 
> GroveArt and Blackboard5.  I suspect the way in which they generate content 
> has something to do with the problem.  One oddity (and a possible clue) 
> regarding GroveArt:  when a page is slow to load, box characters appear as 
> place holders before the actual text shows up.
> 
> I know the fashion is to blame Netscape, but is this Netscape's fault, or 
> is it another symptom of developers coding to IE and ignoring the standards 
> to which Mozilla-based browsers adhere?  Or could it be some failing of the 
> printers (HP LJ4100 with the PCL6 driver and plenty of RAM) or the spooling 
> process (Win2000Pro/Win98)?
> 
> Has anyone else experienced these problems?  Any insight, advice, 
> ammunition, etc., would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Bob Duncan
> 
> 
> ~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~
> Robert E. Duncan
> Systems Librarian
> David Bishop Skillman Library
> Lafayette College
> Easton, PA  18042
> duncanr at lafayette.edu
> http://www.library.lafayette.edu/
> 
>