Turning off headers and footers when printing a web page.

Question

Is it possible to turn off (or reduce the size of) the
default header and footer
when printing a web page? I am using Internet Explorer 6.0.2
900, and only want
it to work with my computer and a specific printer.
I am using the directive @page normal { size : portrait;
margin : 0;} in a CSS
stylesheet specified as media="print".
Clancy

Answer 1

On Sat, 19 Jan 2008, David Powers wrote
>However, you are very selective in your quote. Michael
goes on to say
>(and I agree with him on this point):
>
>"The problem with logical inches and all other fixed
units of measure
>is that they do not scale well on systems with different
dot-per-inch
>settings. What may seem just right in Windows at 96 dpi
may be too
>large or too small on other systems.
Of course, but It's not a problem with logical inches per se.
The
logical inch is just another way of looking at what is meant
by the
screen dpi value. Scaling problems, with different dpi
settings, has
always been a Windows problem and results from the way that
the OS
handles scaling. Fonts scale perfectly. Actual windows, and
other
containers, don't. This is a problem programmers have
grappled with
since the first Windows OS. Vista is the first OS to try to
tackle this
problem.
>Thus, percentages or ems work best when cross-platform
compatibility is
>desired."
And that is because the users screen dpi, and hence logical
inches, are
totally irrelevant when specifying ems and percentages.
Ems and percentage equate to a number of pixels, not inches.
The sole purpose of screen dpi setting is to convert anything
sized in
physical inches into a number of screen pixels. That is the
_only_
purpose of screen dpi. It's a very simple algorithm.
(physical) inches x screen dpi value = number of pixels
How do _you_ think a font sized in points (inches) gets
translated to a
specific number of pixels on screen. I'd be interested in
your answer.
For the screen a conversion from physical inches to pixels is
always
necessary because, as you say, pixels are the unit of screen
measurement
but they are not just a "standard" measurement, they are the
only
consistent measurement. It's not the users program that
creates pixels
on screen but the Operating System. The program requests the
OS to
create a given font at a given size and the requested size
_must_ be in
pixels. Windows can't _directly_ create a screen font that's
specified
in points (inches) because it has no notion of what a
physical inch is
on screen. It does know what a logical inch is because the a
logical
inch is defined by the screen dpi value. That's what the
screen dpi
value is for. If a browser programmer wants to bypass the
variability of
screen dpi on different computers then they ignore dpi values
and work
directly in pixels i.e. in ems or percentage. When ems and
percentages
are specified one is dealing only in pixels.
> It makes a lot more sense in terms of website design to
set a
>font-size of 14px than use units that both you and
Michael Bowers
>define as "1/72 of a logical inch".
Of course it makes more sense to set font size specifically
in pixels
because that's the only unit the OS can use to put something
on screen.
I can't see where you get the idea that either Michael Bowers
or I have
said that there is a unit "defined as 1/72 of a logical
inch". Every
Windows program written takes it that there are 72 points to
a
_physical_ inch.
>
>Yes, you *can* use points to set font sizes (or any other
measurement)
>in CSS for onscreen display, but your fixation with
logical inches
>appears to add little of practical value to choosing the
most
>appropriate measures for designing pages to be viewed on
displays of
>various sizes and resolutions.
You are implying I've said things which I haven't. I have
never, at any
time, said one should use points or inches in designing web
pages. You
seem to have missed the point that what I am doing is
explaining why you
see the results you do on screen when those unit are used.
Somewhat more
informed than "Points are only for print because I don't know
what they
mean on screen, so they must be meaningless".
>As Eric Meyer says on page 110 of "Cascading Style
Sheets: The
>Definitive Guide" (2nd Edition), "points can be a very
difficult
>measurement to use in document design."
And again, I've never advocated using them in page design. A
close
reading, however, from page 83 onwards shows that Eric Meyer
has an
imperfect notion of the meaning of screen dpi. Heresy!! He's
hardly
alone, which is why I did a web site.
>
>That's why I recommend leaving points for use in print
style sheets.
>However, if you enjoy making life difficult for yourself
by using
>points for onscreen design, you're perfectly free to do
so.
Once again, I have never advocated that. You are setting up a
straw man
to knock down. You can do better than that.
Richard Mason
http://www.emdpi.com