Font Size when printing Web-based Articles

Occasionally I print out a web-based article such as MS Knowledge Base to help me make changes to my system. When printed however, the type is huge and produces 3 or 4 pages when 1 or 2 should be enough at 12 point for example. How can I change the default type size to 12 point? I am using Internet Explorer 8.

 

Here are a couple of things I found on the subject, but if it's instructions from websites you're after, probably the easiest thing is to copy what you want and past it into a Word document or similar, then make any adjustments you want (including getting rid of links, pictures, etc), then print that.


Similar to viewing, printing web pages is dependent on many factors, in particular the operating system, the web browser and version, the printer, and paper size. Many but not all pages types have been tested for printing. And as with viewing pages, in general the more up-to-date your browser the better. Later versions of printers and printer drivers can also help. Testing has taken place using Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 and Firefox for PCs and Safari 4.0 and Firefox 3.5 for Macs. The most problems occur with Internet Explorer 6.

Printed Text Too Large or Too Small

There are at least two ways print size on paper can be adjusted:

1. On some browsers, you can adjust the size of the text on your computer screen through keyboard commands (eg. 'Ctrl' + '+') or a large/small icon (or go to View>Text Size). Sometimes by making the text larger or smaller on the screen, it will change the size of the text on paper also.
2. You can also change the default font size in your browser preferences. This may then change the size of the font that is printed. If you have it set to font size 18 because you like fonts big on the computer screen, then the page will generally print at font size 18. But if that is too large on paper and you don't like method one above, then try changing the default size to something smaller such as 10, 11, or 12.

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With Internet Explorer opened, go to View, Text Size and choose Largest.

If you want your own fonts and colours to be used for all websites in Internet Explorer, regardless of the fonts that have been set by the website designer, follow these steps:

In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.

On the General tab, click Accessibility.

Select the Ignore colours specified on webpages, Ignore font styles specified on webpages, and Ignore font sizes specified on webpages check boxes, and then click OK.

You can also set up your own Style here, but that is probably not worth the trouble.

 

Here's a work-around for you, if you're using MS Office 2007. In a blank MS Word page, set your font size to 12 (and customize the font type and other settings, however you want your printed document to look). Then click the MS icon at the top of the document, click Word Options at the bottom of the screen, select Advanced, and then go to the "Cut, copy and paste" section. In this section, change the option "Pasting between documents when style definitions conflict," to "Match destination formatting."

Then, paste your text into the Word page, and print from there. It should print out normall using font size 12.