306698 - [Settings] Make print preview follow the "As Laid Out on the Screen"/"Each Frame on Separate Pages" frames setting

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Core :: Print Preview, defect)

Description

[Phil Sonntag]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6

When I go to print the current web page I'm on, I first preview it in 'Print
Preview' under 'File.' It displays OK, and can be from 1 to 3 pages. However,
when I attempt to print Page 1 of 1, 50% or more of the time, it prints seperate
frames on each page. Page 1 of 1 can yield 4 pages of output.

Reproducible: Sometimes

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Find a web page with frames.
2. Review it.
3. Print only the first page.

Actual Results:  
Prints each frame on a seperate pages.

Expected Results:  
Print exactly what is on each preview page displayed on the screen, on a single
sheet, as intended.

This happens for both printers I have. The first is my HP Deskjet 960c connected
to a USB 2.0 port. The second is a HP LaserJet 5, connected to an enhanced
parallel port (LPT1:). This bug has occured since my first installation of
Firefox, version 0.9x.

Comment 1

[Kevin Brosnan]

*** Bug 306697 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 2

[zug_treno]

Related to Core bug 216975?

Comment 3

[Frank Wein [:mcsmurf]]

What do you have selected in the "Print Frames" options field? I think this matters wheather you get each frame on its own or as you see it in Print Preview.

Comment 4

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Phil, could you please answer the question asked in comment 3?

Comment 5

[Timothy Baldwin]

I encountered the same problem on WIndows ME with Firefox 1.5.0.1. The print frames options was set to each frame individually.

Comment 6

[Hans Aikema]

Encountered similar problem on Win2K with FF 1.5.0.6.
I did a 'print preview', which showed me a single page and 'page 1 of 1', so I pushed the print-button in print-preview, pushed OK and ended up getting 6 pages of output.

If the print-preview shows a preview based on 'as layed out on the screen' this should also be the default checked radiobutton in the print frames option. At least on my PC 'Print Frames' always defaults to 'each frame seperately'.

That a user has to actively change a radiobutton in order to receive the print-output as shown in the print-preview is in my opinion a bug. (when solving this bug it might be nice to introduce some way of manipulating the print frames option from within the print-preview).

Comment 7

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

> If the print-preview shows a preview based on 'as layed out on the screen'

Then it should be fixed to show a preview based on the currently selected frame option...

Comment 8

[Maggy]

I've reported this same bug years ago. There are several identical bug reports (search print AND frames). I use Windows XP SP2. When I preview a page that contains frames, it looks good on screen. When I click Print button on top of preview window, the print frames part of the dialog is greyed out.
When I close the preview and select Print from the menu, I do get the print frames dialog but it defaults to each frame on a seperate page.
The major problem is that in general pages with frames do not have a warning notice THIS PAGE CONTAINS FRAMES!
I print web pages less than once a week, less than once in two months I accidentally start printing a page with frames without setting the correct option in in the print frames dialog. This most likely happens on a web form that has a scroll down list for Country, with each country in a frame. My printer can spit out about 50 pages, each with a single country name printed on it before I'm able to flush the print job.
IMHO any half decent programmer should be able to fix this in less than an hour.
So I really do not understand why this bug is still "unconfirmed" just like all the duplicate reports and why this bug is still alive and kicking in every new version of Firefox.
A nice testcase:
go to http://www.boekwinkeltjes.nl/
click the middle menu item Rollende Deelnemers
click any of the bookshops that scroll by
print the next page with the default settings
preferrably use a fast laserprinter with a huge paper stock installed
try to end the print job before printing 50 almost white pages
If you succeed, I buy you a drink
If you remove this bug, I buy you a meal

Comment 9

[Marko Kohtala]

I was hit by this bug with Firefox 2.0.0.11 and XP.

Careful reading of this bug report and second and third look at the print dialog revealed that I had not changed a setting in print dialog to get the same output as I see in print preview. (And a look at the printout shows that it still is not exactly the same as in print preview.)

I agree that if you press the Print button in print preview, and have to know to change a setting to get printout that is similar to the review, I think the print preview is broken to the point of being useless.

Would make much more sense to have this print frames setting in page setup.

Another bug in the same category is that the paper size in page preview is of wrong size. It also has to be in page setup. How are you supposed to preview a printout to A3 size paper?

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

do you see this issue still with version 3.6 or 4.0 beta?

Comment 11

[Marko Kohtala]

Yes. There is no fix in 3.6.13.

Comment 12

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

This is a print preview issue, not a printing issue, right?

Comment 13

[Marko Kohtala]

I think the problem is that the option how to print frames (and paper size) are not in Page setup but in the print dialog.

So it might as well be Printing: Setup issue, if you agree with the resolution I propose.

Comment 14

[Andy Goth]

Confirmed Fx 4.0.

Comment 15

[Jonathan Watt [:jwatt]]

Since the UI for frameset handling was removed this is no longer relevant.