Safari won't use custom page margins for printing
I'm using Safari 4.04 on Snow Leopard. Here's the problem in a nutshell: I'd like to print pages that I can put in a three-hole-punch binder, without the holes going through printed content. In other words, I simply want to set a custom left margin for printing. Should be simple, right? Apparently, not if you use Safari.
OK, as far as I can tell, here's how it's supposed to work (and this is how it works for me in every browser except Safari):
In the "Print" dialog box, click the "Paper Size" drop-down menu (which defaults to "US Letter"), and scroll down to "Manage Custom Sizes…". Create a custom paper size with the desired margins. Now you should be able to select this custom paper size when you print.
This works fine in other browsers (of course you may need to select the custom size from the "Page Setup" menu, but in Safari 4 this is apparently integrated into the "Print" dialog). In Safari, however, the custom margins are completely ignored. A simple, but frustrating, bug …
This has been a known bug, as I've seen it mentioned in other forums, such as:
http://forums.macworld.com/index.php?/topic/117342-safari-4-0-3-printing/
But Apple has yet to fix it.
OK, for those who are wondering, there are two workarounds I know of, neither of which is totally satisfying:
1) When setting the custom paper size, define the paper itself as narrower than 8.5 inches; for example set it to 7.5. Safari doesn't ignore the actual paper size, it just ignores the margins you set. But unfortunately this will result in an increase in both left and right margins, not just the left margin.
2) As I teach Web design, this is the kludge I figured out on my own: Set a user-defined style sheet for Safari. First, create a plain text document consisting of this:
html {
margin-left: .5in;
}
(Of course, set the margin to your desired width. I'm using a half inch here.) Save this style sheet, calling it something like "safaristyle.css". Now, in Safari's "Advanced"preferences, set this as your custom style sheet. This works great, but unfortunately if you leave Safari on this setting this will result in an increase in the left margin when you view Web pages as well as when you print them. So you can select the custom style sheet only just before printing, and then set it back to "None Selected" when you're not printing.
Am I the only one who finds it odd that Apple still hasn't fixed this little bug?
Does anyone out there know of a better workaround? Thanks for listening.
OK, as far as I can tell, here's how it's supposed to work (and this is how it works for me in every browser except Safari):
In the "Print" dialog box, click the "Paper Size" drop-down menu (which defaults to "US Letter"), and scroll down to "Manage Custom Sizes…". Create a custom paper size with the desired margins. Now you should be able to select this custom paper size when you print.
This works fine in other browsers (of course you may need to select the custom size from the "Page Setup" menu, but in Safari 4 this is apparently integrated into the "Print" dialog). In Safari, however, the custom margins are completely ignored. A simple, but frustrating, bug …
This has been a known bug, as I've seen it mentioned in other forums, such as:
http://forums.macworld.com/index.php?/topic/117342-safari-4-0-3-printing/
But Apple has yet to fix it.
OK, for those who are wondering, there are two workarounds I know of, neither of which is totally satisfying:
1) When setting the custom paper size, define the paper itself as narrower than 8.5 inches; for example set it to 7.5. Safari doesn't ignore the actual paper size, it just ignores the margins you set. But unfortunately this will result in an increase in both left and right margins, not just the left margin.
2) As I teach Web design, this is the kludge I figured out on my own: Set a user-defined style sheet for Safari. First, create a plain text document consisting of this:
html {
margin-left: .5in;
}
(Of course, set the margin to your desired width. I'm using a half inch here.) Save this style sheet, calling it something like "safaristyle.css". Now, in Safari's "Advanced"preferences, set this as your custom style sheet. This works great, but unfortunately if you leave Safari on this setting this will result in an increase in the left margin when you view Web pages as well as when you print them. So you can select the custom style sheet only just before printing, and then set it back to "None Selected" when you're not printing.
Am I the only one who finds it odd that Apple still hasn't fixed this little bug?
Does anyone out there know of a better workaround? Thanks for listening.
Mac Mini, Mac OS X (10.6.2), Safari 4