Has anyone else noticed a problem when printing html with fieldsets in
them? Whenever I print even the simplest document with a fieldset, the
amount of data sent to the printer jumps from a few K without a
fieldset to almost 50 Megs. This seems to only be noticeable in IE,
but I can replicate every time.

Example:
(70 megs sent to printer)

<form>
<fieldset>
<legend>Test</legend>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
</fieldset>
</form>

Example:
(15k sent to printer)
<form>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
Test<br>
</form>

Anyone have any ideas, this is crazy!
Thanks,
-rd

f_of_x@hotmail.com (rd) wrote:
[color=blue]
> Whenever I print even the simplest document with a fieldset, the
> amount of data sent to the printer jumps from a few K without a
> fieldset to almost 50 Megs.[/color]

This made me really worried (particularly since I recommend using
fieldset). But when I tested it, using "print to file" function, I get
just about 14 Kbytes when fieldset is used, about 12Kbytes when it is
not used. So I suspect it's something in your printer, or your CSS, or
maybe even your HTML. Have you checked the syntax of your HTML and CSS?

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

In article <ff0beea0.0307231858.3ec17c0@posting.google.com> ,
f_of_x@hotmail.com says...
[color=blue]
> "Jukka K. Korpela" <jkorpela@cs.tut.fi> wrote in message news:<Xns93C214CC6C3jkorpelacstutfi@193.229.0.31>. ..[color=green]
> > f_of_x@hotmail.com (rd) wrote:
> >[color=darkred]
> > > Whenever I print even the simplest document with a fieldset, the
> > > amount of data sent to the printer jumps from a few K without a
> > > fieldset to almost 50 Megs.[/color]
> >
> > This made me really worried (particularly since I recommend using
> > fieldset). But when I tested it, using "print to file" function, I get
> > just about 14 Kbytes when fieldset is used, about 12Kbytes when it is[/color][/color]
....[color=blue]
> Anyone else have a problem, or did I get some rogue version of
> internet explorer (6.0.2800.1106.xpsp2.030422-1633). I guess it could
> have something to do with my printer as well.
>[/color]
I get 5Mb - WinXP/IE6/HP880C/print quality 'normal'/pictures 300x300.

Doesn't happen if I print to a file, only if I check the print queue.

Example page: http://porjes.haxorz.org/bigprint.html

Jacqui or (maybe) Pete <porjes@spamcop.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> I get 5Mb - WinXP/IE6/HP880C/print quality 'normal'/pictures
> 300x300.
>
> Doesn't happen if I print to a file, only if I check the print
> queue.[/color]

This is getting very strange indeed. I get only 17.2 kB in the print
queue, using Win98/IE6/HP LaserJet 1000/Best quality, testing with your
document.

I wonder what happens on your systems if you set
fieldset { border: none; }
I suspect the problems might relate to the border, which is a somewhat
odd bird - it's different from normal borders in the CSS sense (it has
a hole where the legend appears) but CSS border properties affect it.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html

In article <Xns93C2ED7AEB1FDjkorpelacstutfi@193.229.0.31>,
jkorpela@cs.tut.fi says...[color=blue]
> Jacqui or (maybe) Pete <porjes@spamcop.net> wrote:
>[color=green]
> > I get 5Mb - WinXP/IE6/HP880C/print quality 'normal'/pictures
> > 300x300.
> >
> > Doesn't happen if I print to a file, only if I check the print
> > queue.[/color]
>
> This is getting very strange indeed. I get only 17.2 kB in the print
> queue, using Win98/IE6/HP LaserJet 1000/Best quality, testing with your
> document.
>
> I wonder what happens on your systems if you set
> fieldset { border: none; }[/color]
....

Yes, 'border:none' solves the problem, as does eg 'border: solid 1px
silver;' so it seems that IE6 is printing its pretty rounded border
thing as an image?

Anyway, it seems that the best solution is something like:

border: solid 1px silver;
padding: 5px;

http://porjes.haxorz.org/bigprint2.html

Jacqui or (maybe) Pete <porjes@spamcop.net> wrote:
[color=blue]
> Yes, 'border:none' solves the problem, as does eg 'border: solid 1px
> silver;' so it seems that IE6 is printing its pretty rounded border
> thing as an image?[/color]

I just realized that we might see different things. On my IE 6, the
default rendering (no style sheet whatsoever) of a fieldset element has
no _rounded_ border. It's a normal _rectangular_ border (no rounding
in the corners), except that the legend element (if present and
nonempty) appears in place of a segment of the border.

My next guess is that you are using a version of IE that by default
produces a different, rounded border, using some technique that causes
the printing problem.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/
Pages about Web authoring: http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/www.html