Printing Considerations

DRA is a web application that does not have an inherent print function. To print reports, the user must use the print function of a web browser. Because most web pages are designed to be displayed rather than printed, printing web pages often produces less than satisfactory results. Common problems include truncation of the right side of the page, inappropriate page breaks, and table headings not repeated when tables print on multiple pages.

Within the DRA application, only one report, the Survey Recap, is specifically designed for printing. To achieve the best results, you must follow the setup instructions in the tutorial for the Survey Recap function.

For all other reports, an attempt has been made to include satisfactory print results in the overall page design, but the primary driver of the page design is display quality. Print features include the omission of buttons and high-lighted links (which can not be clicked on paper) and some header data such as logos and menus. To achieve satisfactory print quality, you may have to use your browsers print setup functions to adjust printer margins, set the printer to landscape or portrait mode, and adjust the header and footer fields. If you have a large monitor set to display at 1280 or more pixels wide, you may have to use the ImagePreferences function to limit the pixel width of a page. Use of this option will reduce the number of columns on most pages making it possible to print the page without truncating images or data on the right side.

When printing pages that contain lengthy tables, the best browsers to use are Firefox or Netscape Navigator. These browsers are capable of reprinting the table headings when a table overflows to multiple pages.

If the goal is to obtain tangible output independent of the DRA application, then a better solution is the Rock Art Inventory CD-ROM. When the recording for a survey is complete, the administrator may create a CD-ROM for you that will contain a complete set of reports. The web pages on the CD-ROM may be viewed with your browser and can be printed when paper output is required.