Suggestion for a new option - printing option

Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Vu Hung -
Number of replies: 18

When I want to print a discussion topic, I have to copy its post, replies and paste them into a word processor.

It's really a waste of time. Should we have a printing option like other forums such as Community Server forum (http://www.communityserver.org/forums)?

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In reply to Vu Hung

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
File -> Print in your browser ... 
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Gustav W Delius -
... and someone should design a printer-friendly theme. Then it would be easy to add a little print icon to every page to displays it using that theme, ready for printing. This icon could go next to the Jump to... menu for example.
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In reply to Gustav W Delius

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Sean S -
... and someone should design a printer-friendly theme. Then it would be easy to add a little print icon to every page to displays it using that theme, ready for printing. This icon could go next to the Jump to... menu for example.

I agree - but I would put the icon/link at the top of the page and at the bottom.
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In reply to Vu Hung

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by W Page -

Hi Vu and Martin!

This is an option which has been discussed many times in specific threads and as posts within threads addressing primarily other topics.

"Printer-friendly" pages would make things a bit easier for instructors and students who do not do well reading online. Also less paper would be used when printing because much of the graphics are removed from "printer-friendly" pages. The "File -> Print in your browser ..." procedure does not do that causing more pages to be printed to obtain the same material. "Printer-friendly" pages can be helpful in situations where paper is limited per student like some of the public and school libraries.

Maybe the new themes in v1.5 will be helpful in creating more "printer-friendly" like pages, but, it would be better if it was a feature in the different modules and activities in Moodle. One can dream... smile

Some prior discussion on this topic if anyone is intersted. These links go back as far as April 2003.

Specifically about "printer-friendly" pages"printing forums?
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=10748

Questions about printer-priendly & pdf generated pages, email and Dialogue Module
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=4441

Print-friendly theme?
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=18800

Print functionality?
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=10114

Print options for Journal entries
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=8019

A few suggestions
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=3429

Moderating a Quiz
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1241

Possible feature addition - Printable view
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=948

Some posts within these threads about "printer-friendly" pages
Is there a WORKING gradebook somewhere I can look at?
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=18320&parent=87150

Gradebook 2 into Moodle 1.5
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=12760

Blackboard Style Log Reports
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=13132

Progress of Calendar development
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=4740

Diploma / certificate
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=9766

Ressources without abstracts?
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=5993

Kinda about "printer-friendly" pages but more about publishing multiple formats in Moodle
Multiple Wordprocessing Formats & Platforms
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=7920

WP1

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In reply to W Page

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Vu Hung -

Thanks W Page!

That's all I want to say, "printer-friendly" pages. It's very helpful when there are so many post and replies in a discussion.

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In reply to Vu Hung

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Roland Gesthuizen -

We did something similar for a website that I manage called VITTA. You can click on my VITTA link and scroll down to try the lower print option that we added.

Basically the print option would present a similar view of the same page with any distracting navigation banners and side bits. We left the cookie crumb navigation as it seemed to give a clue where the page came from and gave a click back option if they didnt hit the back button on their browser. I think we also considered switched to a printer friendly style sheet but didnt get around to it. Every page on the website now has this option.

Following some user feedback, we removed some of the fixed table widths as these sometimes caused problems for the print width when chunks just scrolled off the page. Interestingly enough, solving this also provided us with the answer how to make the site easier to use for users with PDA devices. Most pages in Moodle are very friendly for small screen devices. Hmm new topic thread?

Martin is right of course, users are expected to hit print in their browser but there are some steps that could be taken with a view to make some pages more .. hmm, print worthy?

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In reply to Roland Gesthuizen

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by W Page -
Hi Roland & Gustav!

Roland! Those "printer" pages looked really good.

Questions, questions, questions:
  • Was this a Moodle site??
  • Where did you add the "print" link to the site?
  • Did you place the link in a footer so you did not have to make changes to many pages?
  • Would you please share the code and how you did it?

Agree with you Gustav, that would be a "cool" way and place to display a printer icon.

WP1
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In reply to W Page

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Roland Gesthuizen -

No, it wasnt a Moodle site but when we rebuilt the VITTA website, we started with good design principles then it ended up looking like moodle.

We located print link into the footer as it seemed to be the most logical place to tuck it away without adding to the visual overload of a page.

Happy to share the php code but the fantastic staff at Creative Contingencies Australia take full credit for this Open Source development work.

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In reply to Roland Gesthuizen

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by daniel ginerman -
oh yes, that feature is exactly what i've been looking for.
could you share it with me?
i need to have it present in every single post of my site's forums.
could you please also explain to me how to manage to enable it such everywhere?
thanx in advance! smile,

daniEl
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In reply to daniel ginerman

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Peter Lieverdink -
Hi guys,

I got an email from Roland, asking to tell you how I did the 'Print Format' on the VITTA website.

It's fairly straighforward. The auto-included footer contains a link to:

{$_SERVER['SCRIPT_NAME']}?PRINT=true&{$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']}

which opens in a new window when clicked. This means any page accessed by clicking that link has the variable $_REQUEST['PRINT'] set to true

In the header include, a different CSS file is pulled in, depending on whether this variable is set, so various elements are rendered in different ways (Notably, the background colours and images get removed and text is left-aligned).

In addition, the logo/header block, main layout tables, section navigation and 'teasers' are generated in an if{} block, so that if $_REQUEST['PRINT'] is set, those are not sent to the browser, simplifying the layout.

If you're not worried about the if{} conditions for certain sections, you could simply pull in one or more stylesheets. if you specify the media type in astylesheet include, any supported browser will use the alternate stylesheet.

For example, an HTML file containing:

<link rel="Stylesheet" href="web_format.css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
<link rel="StyleSheet" href="print_format.css" type="text/css" media="print" />

Depending on whether you're printing or viewing on-screen, the browser will pick the appropriate stylesheet file.

The reason we went with if{} statement way of doing things, is that people ALWAYS get a print preview and it works on ALL browsers.
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In reply to Peter Lieverdink

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Josh Bush -
Any chance of getting that put in a future moodle distribution? My PHP and familiarity with moodle is a bit shaky at the moment, but I am most interested in being able to print. 
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In reply to Josh Bush

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Leonhard Küllinger -
Hi you all,
i read the discussion now after looking for this feature. A Prof. from the university of Salzburg asked about this feature we are using in Blackboard. That was the only thing he recongnized when working the first time with moodle. This institution is creating an public blended learning Sequence about ecology. Sometimes its necessary to print forums and read away from the computer.

So if someone can add this feature - great thanxs from austria

Leo
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In reply to Leonhard Küllinger

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Lotta Langer -
I was also asked by a Teacher and I agree with him, that it would be a very helpful Feature. At least for the posts in forums.

So it would be very nice, if someone would add this option.


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In reply to Lotta Langer

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Mawuli Kuivi -
I have a print function added to Moodle 1.7

You can print only a post, only a topic, or the entire forum.

I did some changes to the forum/lib.php and also added forum/printmsg.php

It is working for now. Let me know if you want to try it.
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In reply to Mawuli Kuivi

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Jon Bolton -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Testers
Does it work on 1.6.3 (he asked hopefully...)?
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In reply to Mawuli Kuivi

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Ali Banani -
Hi Mawuli,

can you please post your changes?

cheers ali
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In reply to Mawuli Kuivi

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by nalini misra -
hi,

I want to convert the content into the PDF and Print version.

Can u help?


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In reply to Vu Hung

Re: Suggestion for a new option - printing option

by Rob Barreca -
So should we just check for $_REQUEST['print'] and then include a print.css that makes it really plain?  Anybody have some existing code/css sheets for me to work off of?

I definitely feel that this should be a link on most pages to allow teachers to print a stripped-down version. We've got lots of "old school" teachers that like to read off dead trees.
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