In our application the customer can print a label, and its controlled by a CSS file. A window will pop up in IE with a preview and then they can print.

The issue im having is that depending on what IE allows a customer to set their "page setup" to, i.e margins. I have to change nearly every css file to print right according to their IE settings.

Is there a way to make the CSS file more "universal" in some way?

Below is what we use.... Thanks in advance!

.printAssetLabelPANEL1
{
    top: 0in;
    left: -.25in;
    position: absolute;
    height: 1in;
    width: 2in;
}
.printAssetLabelPANEL2
{
    top: 0in;
    left: 1.75in;
    position: absolute;
    height: 1in;
    width: 2in;
}
.printAssetLabelPANEL3
{
    top: 1in;
    left: -.25in;
    position: absolute;
    height: 1in;
    width: 2in;
}
.printAssetLabelPANEL4
{
    top: 1in;
    left: 1.75in;
    position: absolute;
    height: 1in;
    width: 2in;
}
.printAssetLabelPANEL5
{
    top: 2in;
    left: -.3in;
    position: absolute;
    width: 4.2in;
}

.printAssetLabelBold
{
    font-weight: bold;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 18pt;
    color: Black;
    text-align: center;
    padding-bottom: 1px;
    vertical-align: top;
    width: 2in;
}
.printAssetLabelStandard
{
    font-weight: normal;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 10pt;
    color: Black;
    text-align: center;
    padding-bottom: 1px;
    vertical-align: top;
    width: 2in;
}
.printAssetLabelLargeInverted
{
    font-weight: normal;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 46pt;
    color: White;
    text-align: center;
    background-color: Black;
    padding-top: 14px;
    padding-bottom: 20px;
    vertical-align: baseline;
    height: 1.0in;
    width: 4.2in;
}
.printAssetLabelLarge
{
    font-weight: normal;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 24pt;
    color: Black;
    text-align: center;
    padding-top: 10px;
    padding-bottom: 1px;
    height: 0.3in;
    width: 4.2in;
}
.printAssetLabelLargeBold
{
    font-weight: bold;
    font-family: Arial;
    font-size: 38pt;
    color: Black;
    text-align: center;
    border: dashed 1px WHITE;
    padding-bottom: 1px;
    height: 0.3in;
    width: 4.2in;
}
 

use a media: print style sheet with NO floats and ABSOLUTELY NO positioning.

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/css_styling_for_print_and_other_media/

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Time flies like an arrow, however, fruit flies like a banana.
Webmaster Forum

As a designer, there is no way to override, control, or even detect what the user has set for their printing margins.

Your CSS positioning will only work well if everyone has their browser set to print in the same manner. That might be done by spawning a help window to illustrate proper print settings.

An alternative is to generate PDF. But even PDF has some wiggle room in most PDF viewers as the user may print at actual size or with the option to 'fit to page'

http://www.fpdf.org/

the only control you have is off a CSS reset where you set all margins etc. to 0. this does not override a user's actual printing preferences as those are system properties.

Darryn Cooke
www.darryncooke.com | Marketing and Creative Services

The print style sheet is the way to go.

that way parts of the page that do no need to be printed (menu's etc
) can be hidden & there is no need to send a new page just to print
 

A Maintenance contract is essential, not a Luxury.
Do things on the cheap & it will cost you dear