[D'Espice]

OK here's the deal. One of my professors has all his lectures available online, either PowerPoint or the RTF Outline. Now all I need is these RTF files since they're pretty much the slides without pictures and all them bells & whistles.
When I click that file in Safari, it opens in the current window but font size is tiny. Printing it results in text impossible to read (judging by what I printed out so far, I'd say font size 4-6). When I open that very same RTF file with TextEdit, the font size is fine though (12) and it also prints just fine.

Is there a way to tell Safari to always open RTF files with TextEdit and not try to display them in the current window?

[Mike S.]

I don't see any obvious way to to it but with one RTF file I checked from Google both Safari and TextEdit seemed to display it the same way.

You could just open a context menu on the link to the file and save it; then open it in TextEdit. Alternatively, you could load it in Safari then select all and use the TextEdit service > New Window Containing Selection.

Finally, you can use a different browser that will download and open RTF files rather than try and display them itself; OmniWeb appears to be one such browser.

[D'Espice]

Thanks, but all you suggested is not an option. Downloading each single file is what I'm doing right now and it just blows. We're talking a lot of RTF files here
Different browser is something I don't really want to do either, I hate using different browsers for different websites... too complicated plus I'd hate to launch another browser everytime I need one of these RTF files.

You can check out these RTFs I'm talking about yourself, visit www.huenemoerder.net (that's the name of our prof but we just call him "chickenkiller" which is pretty much what this German name means in English)

[Mike S.]

I took a look at your linked files and opened them in Safari and TextEdit.

Right off the bat I noticed that TextEdit defaulted to a 200% zoom upon opening, which explained the easier to read font size. I changed TextEdit's zoom to 100% and it looked more like Safari's rendering.

I then proceeded to do a print preview on both and noticed the issue with tiny text from Safari; TextEdit was laying it out on 4 pages(at 100% zoom not the default 200%) where as Safari was putting it on 3. As an experiment I used Safari's text zoom a couple of times and that was translated into a print preview of 5 pages with a point size that appeared to be on par with TextEdit.

If your intent is easier to read print outs then simply increasing text size to something you're comfortable with before printing would seem to do the trick though I didn't actually try to print anything.

[Theodour]

Originally posted by D'Espice:
Is there a way to tell Safari to always open RTF files with TextEdit and not try to display them in the current window?

I think MisFox will let you do this.
It is like the old OS9 advanced settings in the internet control panel. In fact, that is what it stands for "Missing Internet Settings."

[mitchell_pgh]

If your professor posts them all in one location (like his/her personal account or something), use a program like DeepVacuum http://www.hexcat.com/deepvacuum/ to go in and grab the entire website. I'm rather sure it would pick up all the rtf files.

Otherwise, just click on the link to the RTF file while holding control and select "download linked files as..."

Unless the professor has hundreds or thousands of of lectures, these are the best options IMHO.

[Fusion]

If you hold the alt/option key down while clicking on the link it will download the file instead of opening it. You then only have to double-click it from your desktop to open it. That's only 2 extra clicks. I know that's not exactly what you wanted, but its about as close as you are going to get besides just printing from Safari and zooming in first.

[lavar78]

Originally posted by Fusion:
If you hold the alt/option key down while clicking on the link it will download the file instead of opening it. You then only have to double-click it from your desktop to open it. That's only 2 extra clicks. I know that's not exactly what you wanted, but its about as close as you are going to get besides just printing from Safari and zooming in first.

Well, he could add a folder action to the download folder telling it to open all new RTF files in TextEdit. That would eliminate the need to double click.

BTW, More Internet is a preference pane you can download that will associate RTF files with TextEdit.

[D'Espice]

Uh nice thanks, just tried MisFox and changed the default handling for RTF files... but still, Safari opens them in the current window instead of TextEdit
Well, looks like I'll have to live with it

[kcmac]

Originally posted by Fusion:
If you hold the alt/option key down while clicking on the link it will download the file instead of opening it. You then only have to double-click it from your desktop to open it. That's only 2 extra clicks. I know that's not exactly what you wanted, but its about as close as you are going to get besides just printing from Safari and zooming in first.

Thanks for the tip fusion. I never knew this one.

[nickm]

Originally posted by D'Espice:
Different browser is something I don't really want to do either, I hate using different browsers for different websites...

Dump Safari for Omniweb, then.

[Xeo]

Originally posted by D'Espice:
Uh nice thanks, just tried MisFox and changed the default handling for RTF files... but still, Safari opens them in the current window instead of TextEdit
Well, looks like I'll have to live with it

How about using the "text bigger" button to make it a couple sizes bigger before printing.