dwitkin
May 17th, 2008, 11:22 AM
Before I moved to Ubuntu, I used Firefox on Windows XP and Vista. On those platforms, when you used the Firefox print preview function, several buttons were displayed in preview mode that allowed you to perform useful functions. These functions included:
Changing the page orientation from portrait to landscape and vice-versa
"Scaling" the size of fonts on the page based on a percentage of the original size, or by using a handy "shrink-to-fit" scaling option
Printing the previewed page without the need to exit the preview first.
When I moved to the Hardy Heron 8.04 version of Ubuntu, I noticed that these buttons were now absent. (They may also be missing in earlier Ubuntu versions, but I can't remember.) I missed these buttons. I wanted these buttons. These buttons saved me time.
Luckily, I've located the buttons. God bless useful buttons. In any case, by consolidating info from a few posts and following a few quick and easy steps, the buttons are now available to me. In case anyone else experiences the same issue, here's a quick step-by-step tutorial on how to make these print preview buttons appear:
Open Firefox.
In the URL area (i.e., the bar that displays the internet address), clear the existing text and then type: "about:config"
If propmpted, click OK to by-pass the warning.
In the Filter field near the top of the page, filter for the phrase "print.while"
Find the "print.whileInPrintPreview" option -- it may be the only one displayed. Double-click on the option to set it for true
Now, when you enter print preview, you should see the buttons for page scaling as well as options for landscape and portrait page orientations.
Someone may want to suggest enabling these buttons by default in a future release of Ubuntu -- I can't see a downside to showing them by default. Until then, I hope this fix helps you as it has helped me.
Changing the page orientation from portrait to landscape and vice-versa
"Scaling" the size of fonts on the page based on a percentage of the original size, or by using a handy "shrink-to-fit" scaling option
Printing the previewed page without the need to exit the preview first.
When I moved to the Hardy Heron 8.04 version of Ubuntu, I noticed that these buttons were now absent. (They may also be missing in earlier Ubuntu versions, but I can't remember.) I missed these buttons. I wanted these buttons. These buttons saved me time.
Luckily, I've located the buttons. God bless useful buttons. In any case, by consolidating info from a few posts and following a few quick and easy steps, the buttons are now available to me. In case anyone else experiences the same issue, here's a quick step-by-step tutorial on how to make these print preview buttons appear:
Open Firefox.
In the URL area (i.e., the bar that displays the internet address), clear the existing text and then type: "about:config"
If propmpted, click OK to by-pass the warning.
In the Filter field near the top of the page, filter for the phrase "print.while"
Find the "print.whileInPrintPreview" option -- it may be the only one displayed. Double-click on the option to set it for true
Now, when you enter print preview, you should see the buttons for page scaling as well as options for landscape and portrait page orientations.
Someone may want to suggest enabling these buttons by default in a future release of Ubuntu -- I can't see a downside to showing them by default. Until then, I hope this fix helps you as it has helped me.