Printing with Chrome on a Mac / default settings -> words run off page on US letter

[cgreene]

Printing the PDF generated at https://greenelab.github.io/biopriors-review/v/7e8a3a2c7f58bf8fee3c1547870f54f98141fdb1/manuscript.pdf from Chrome on a mac leads to text that runs off the page.

This isn't apparent before the print dialog in chrome:

[dhimmel]

The PDF uses the paper size of "A4, Portrait (8.26 × 11.69 inch)". On a sheet of paper with this size, the margins will appear correctly. The issue is that our lab printer in the U.S. uses "letter" paper (8.50 × 11.00 inch). This page visualizes the size difference:

If we switch to letter, then A4 paper will have the sides cutoff.

I can imagine a couple options:

1. Instruct users to print using "fit to size" scaling to reduce the dimensions of the text if needed.
2. Use a page size that is 8.26 × 11.00 inch (the min in both dimensions).

---

We've previously struggled with this issue in #105 and #107. In a535f7b, we switched to letter size, but this is no longer part of the default CSS:

rootstock/build/themes/default.html

Lines 485 to 489 in 631b8a2

	@media print {
	@page {
	/* suggested printing margin */
	margin: 0.5in;
	}

So I guess athenapdf is defaulting to A4.

[vincerubinetti]

I think it makes more sense to specify a default size in whatever is actually doing the printing, rather than in the CSS which is usually harder to change. Thus I don't think we should hard code it into the CSS.

Two additional half measures we discussed in person:

1. Support better print configuration in the command line. When building a manuscript, it should say in the console something like Building PDF with Athena PDF at paper size: A4. This will make people more aware of what is going on and make errors easier to catch. We could also provide almost like a print dialog like any other to select the page size on every print:

Current print size: A4
Change print size: 1) US Letter 2) A4 3) Other 4) Don't ask again (use current as default)

2. Always print two versions of the PDF: US Letter and A4, and include those words in the filename. This might make people more aware that there is a difference and that they'll have to do some kind of fitting/scaling.

---

Instruct users to print using "fit to size" scaling to reduce the dimensions of the text if needed.

Where would we do this in a place that is obvious and useful but not distracting where it is irrelevant.

Use a page size that is 8.26 × 11.00 inch (the min in both dimensions).

This might lead to hard to troubleshoot issues where users don't know why their margins aren't square. It's also sort of a dirty workaround, and not an actual solution.

I think the true solution is using my 1) above, and somehow making sure in print dialogs that "fit to page" is always selected.

[agitter]

Supporting print configuration through the command line, whether via an environment variable used by build.sh or something else, makes sense to me.

[dhimmel]

Thus I don't think we should hard code it into the CSS.

I agree. The reason being is that now if someone prints the HTML from their browser, they can print to whatever page size their printer uses / the default for their locale. There is no issue currently when users print from HTML.

The issue occurs when users print manuscript.pdf. Currently the issue occurs for U.S.-based users whose paper is letter sized. The issue only occurs if the user does not select the "scale to fit" option in the print menu.

Supporting print configuration through the command line, whether via an environment variable used by build.sh or something else, makes sense to me.

athenapdf has a --pagesize argument. We could add --pagesize=A4 to build.sh, so manuscript creators see where to change it. For example, if you know most of your readers will be U.S. based, you might want to specify --pagesize=Letter.

But the main problem is that the person who is printing the PDF manuscript is rarely the one who is configuring build.sh.

[agitter]

But the main problem is that the person who is printing the PDF manuscript is rarely the one who is configuring build.sh.

That is also true for authors who generate a PDF manuscript from LaTeX. I don't see it as a big problem if the person who runs build.sh sets an athenapdf --pagesize that makes sense for their locale. I like the idea of making that configurable in the build script.

[dhimmel]

I like the idea of making that configurable in the build script.

See #272. I don't use an environment variable because at this point it's probably easier to change just the one line.

General advice to readers

If you are printing a manuscript whose PDF uses a different page size than your physical paper, either:

1. select "scale to fit" in the print options
2. print the HTML manuscript directly, which will automatically conform to your paper size