[hotani]

I need to print off labels from an internal web-based database application, and really wanted to use css for the formatting, but it just isn't working out too well.

The problem is with the margins, not the margins I can set with css, but the ones in 'page setup' - I need to override the default somehow, or just bag it and find another way. Exporting to Word comes to mind, and also gives me a sharp pain in an unpleasant area...

Is there a way to force the setting of the browser's printing margins? This will be used with IE 6 and Firefox.

TIA

[MacAtak]

I don't know if you can force the margins but you may be interested in FPDF a PHP class which lets you create PDFs on the fly. You can do formatting and I'm sure it allows you to set margins.

Don't know if your using PHP or even if this can do what you want but I've used this before and it works pretty slick.

[hotani]

I'll try that. I'm actually using CF (don't have new version which natively exports to pdf... YET), but php is available so I'll try that. Most of my research so far has pointed in that direction...

[eggman]

At the risk of being flamed, I've had great success using Macromedia Flash as a web-based thin client for handling dynamic print jobs.

Flash not only permits you to do fairly accurate page alignment, but it also allows you to use embedded fonts for a more consistent output than a browser solution that relies upon whatever fonts may be found on the user's system.

I'd make my choice of using PDF vs. Flash based on whether you need a responsive, interactive behavior (ie user pushes a button and his printer just spits out the labels) or whether the creation of a document artifact that the user can reuse is needed. In the latter case, downloading a .PDF file is more desirable. If you want something that feels more like an application than a document download, Flash is the ticket.