In general, printing a Wikipedia page is as simple as selecting print from your web browser. What is then printed is what is seen from the sidebar tool "Print page."
The MediaWiki software that Wikipedia runs on uses Cascading Style Sheets in order to specify the style and layout of the printable version of a page. In modern browsers, the print function of the browser should automatically use the rules in the style sheets when you print an article, therefore the print command of your web browser is all you normally need to use.
Certain page elements normally do not print; these include section edit links, navigation boxes, message boxes and metadata.
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Printable version
The default Vector skin has a selection in the left sidebar for 'Print page'. This printable version is often misunderstood, as it is not exactly a print preview. It does not show page numbers, headers and footers applied by your browser. For a proper print preview, use the one supplied by your browser.
Print page is not needed for any modern browser, as these browsers will parse the media="print" CSS styles included in the markup of Wikipedia pages. The print rules are applied automatically when the page is printed or previewed from the browser.
Older browsers do not automatically apply print rules when using the browser print feature. These browsers include these versions and older:
- Internet Explorer 3.0 for Windows
- Internet Explorer 4.01 for Mac
- Netscape Navigator 4.73
- Firefox 5 and lower
Printable version does not apply @media print rules from user style sheets-- see below.
The print stylesheets are called by link elements on every Wikipedia page such as:
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/skins-1.5/common/commonPrint.css?207xx" type="text/css" media="print" />
Older browsers do not support <link media= "print">, thus they will ignore this statement and will not automatically apply the printing rules. For these browsers, the printable version is useful. These browsers include these versions and older:
- Internet Explorer 6
- Netscape Navigator 4
Print On Boxes Video
Plain text
The Printable version does not contain embedded links or other HTML markup, thus it can be used as a source to cleanly copy and paste into other documents.
CSS
The base MediaWiki print style sheet is at http://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/commonPrint.css. This style sheet can be edited only by the developers.
The Wikipedia specific print style sheet is at MediaWiki:Print.css. This style sheet can supplement and override the base; it can be edited by admins.
Classes
MediaWiki:Print.css defines certain classes that are non-printable, specifically navbox, infobox.sisterproject, editlink, noprint, metadata, dablink. For example: since {{navbox}} uses the navbox class, any elements based on it will not print.
@media print
CSS media types define the rules for different types of presentation media. The normal display uses @media screen rules; printing rules can be defined with defined @media print.
Controlling print
Elements
When creating a new element that should not print, the noprint class can be applied; for example:
<span class="noprint">foo</span>
Here, the content foo would display, but not print. You can also use {{noprint}}, a template wrapper for the noprint class. Some other templates, such as {{unprintworthy-inline}}, also include the noprint class.
Conversely, for an element that should print but not show on the display, use the printonly class:
<span class="printonly">foo</span>
This is normally applied to linked citation numbers and document IDs.
To use or display elements only in PDF or book print rendering, you can use the templates {{Hide in print}} and {{Only in print}}.
Personal customization
Readers with accounts can modify their Special:MyPage/skin.css to customize their individual printing experience. Remember that rules using @media print will show-- or not show if that is the intent --in print preview but not printable version.
- Note: URLs will always print for references that do not use citation templates
Problems
Blank pages in Internet Explorer
When printing with Internet Explorer 7, some pages may be blank except for the header and footer; this can be seen in the browser print preview.
- Issues: The style sheets have rules to adjust the line height for improved readability with superscript and subscript text, including references. IE7 apparently has problems with the
line-heightCSS property. This issue appears to be resolved in Internet Explorer 8 and above. - Fix:
Linking
It is possible to include links to the printable version of a page. Such links should not be needed in articles, and the use elsewhere should consider the actual need and limitations.
The link to the printable page is of the format:
A link to the printable version of a page can be created by using
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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