273432 - [UX] Printing should ignore user-set minimum font size

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: Printing: Output, enhancement)

Description

[Robert Bamler]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

The Combobox labeled "Minimum Font size" (which can be accessed by Edit -->
Preferences --> General --> Fonts & Colors) really rocks, because you can set up
your computer screen to high resolution and still have readable text in webpages
that set font size in pixel-values. However, I don't think this option makes
sense when printing a page. So, in my opinion, Firefox should either

a) ignore the setting in this Combobox when printing a page, or
b) there should be a Checkbox next to this Combobox labeled "ignore minimum font
size when printing pages", or
c) there should be a second Combobox next to the first one. Then, the first one
could be labeled "Minimum font size for text displayed on the screen" and the
second one could be labeled "Minimum font size for printing"

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Set up your computer monitor to high resolution.
2. Visit a web page that sets the font size in pixel values. It is very likely
that the font size will be much too small to be easily readable with your screen
resolution.
3. Choose Edit --> Preferences --> General --> Fonts & Colors. Set a Value for
"Minimum Font size" so that the font size is comfortable again.
4. Print the page. It is very likely that you will consider the font size to be
much to large.

Comment 1

[[e-mail]]

I agree that this is a bug. My computer's resolution is 1900 x 1200.  Many web
pages are too small to read without setting the minimum font size.  When I do
that, my printouts become HUGE and no longer look correct. I have to change the
font setting whenever I print and then change it back when I'm finished so that
I can read the web page again.

The minimum font size is a great feature and the main one that made me make the
initial switch from IE.  I have never needed to set the minimum font size for
printing. Ignoring it when printing would seem to be an easy fix and would make
Firefox more usable. 

Comment 2

[Bart Cannistra]

Yes! CONFIRMED here.
This is most troublesome and specific to Firefox.  In my case the print comes
out way too small.

There needs to be a config for screen text (as there is) , and a separate config
for printing text size.

Whenever I need to print a web doc I have to jump over to IE...  BAD BAD.
Please address this issue, as I need to print alot of web docs.

Comment 3

[Christopher Schultz]

I would like to vote for this bug: we have some pages that we'd like to print using dimensions specified in "in" (inches) in US and "mm" in other places. When a minimum font size is set, the text can spill all over the rest of the page.

Comment 4

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Still happens. In Firefox nowadays you set the minimum font size via:

Preferences > Fonts & Colors > Advanced... > Minimum font size

Seems to me that this is the type of issue where different people will want different behavior. Since there have only been 2 CC's in the 13 years since this bug has been filed it also seems like the number of people wanting the requested behavior is very small. We're also not going to add UI for a feature that has such small demand. So I think this is WONTFIX.

Comment 5

[Felix Miata]

Some people vote, others CC, some do both. Here we have net total of 6, counting one who CC'd and voted only once.

Comment 6

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Fair point. But in the grand scheme of hundreds of millions of users, we'd still expect to see significantly more interest over the course of so many years to warrant making this change.

Comment 7

[Felix Miata]

All hundreds of millions do not attempt to interact with Bugzilla. There's no telling how many who'd like it made such mention in mailing lists, forums, newsgroups and on IRC in the 13+ years since this was opened.