How to Print Any Web Page Without It Getting Garbled

Reader Jorge writes: Hi, how do I print from the Internet without having the graphics go onto different pages. I just want to print the first page and not have the page be split into 3 different pages. It seems that the easiest thing to do is use the alt-print screen command to capture the window.

In the old days, printing web pages was a matter of clicking control-P and grabbing your print job from the printer, but the era of CSS and Web 2.0 have made things tricky: Images you would normally expect to be foreground essentials are actually part of the background, which by default your browser will ignore when it tries to print. Complicated layouts make things even uglier when you try to print... something just gets lost between your PC and the printer. And while many sites (like this one) have custom, printable versions of their pages, the vast majority don't.

So, how about some potential fixes?

First, I think your alt-print screen trick is a great one, if you only want to print the visible part of a web page. For the uninitiated: Alt-print screen will capture just the active window. Then open up a graphics program, click paste, and then print with whatever settings you prefer. It's not a one-click solution, but it's reliable and it's free.

After some searching, I found a nifty way to save an entire web page (top to bottom, even if it doesn't fit on one screen without scrolling), using a Firefox plug-in. Install Screengrab! here, which will add a small button to the bottom-right of your Firefox browser. To save a web page as a printable graphic, just click it and select Save. You can save the entire page or just the visible portion. Then open up the file in any graphics editor (even Microsoft Paint) and print it with the options you choose: You can even fit the printout all on one page. It's free and it works well, but of course you need Firefox to use it.

There are also several standalone utilities on the market, like BrowserCap, but I've found them buggy. They're also expensive: BrowserCap is 40 euros, or more than 50 U.S. dollars, just so you can print a web page! Yikes.

A final tip for IE users: You can try setting your browser to print background images to make printed pages look a little better. They won't be perfect, but they'll at least be improved over the pages you're used to seeing (though pages with dark or black backgrounds may be nigh unreadable). Give this a try by clicking Tools > Internet Options > Advanced. Scroll down to Printing and check "Print background colors and images." If that doesn't work for you, you can always disable it the same way.

Good luck!