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I used to get this often in firefox, until I found out a best kept secret.
Firefox has 2 built in print systems.
If you press ctrl+p like everyone does you get the standard, rubbish text truncation print system.
If however, you click on the hamburger menu top right, and find the print option, you get the second print provider that allows you access to all sorts of formatting options, and which does a better job too, esp when printing to a virtual off printer.
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I have been fighting to get decent printouts for years - and given up. Today, I rather save the complete web page, as an html file, with an associated subdirectory for images and style sheets and whatever. Most browsers provide this as a menu or control char command and takes care of everything.
A small disadvantage is, if you save hundreds of these pages, is that you end up with hundreds of copies of the same icons, images, common script snippets etc, one per saved page. But disk is cheap nowadays; it is no really big issue.
My experience is that this works a lot better than making PDF files for printing.
10-15 years ago, there was a whole crowd of "web harvesters" that allowed you to download an entire web site. They would keep the URL structure as a directory, so that e.g. icons and images were stored only once, for a much cleaner structure, if you want offline access to an entire website, or a major part. Fifteen years ago, there were still a few webpages here and there with more or less static, plain text/graphics info, so it used to work quite well. Nowadays, when 99% of the web pages are built on-the-spot for each request, and much of the information presented is retrieved from a remote database as you move around in the page, the harvesters (crawlers, scrapers, ... lots of names are in use) are not as useful as they used to be. Googling for e.g. "web harvesting" gives you enough links to keep you busy until the pandemic is over 
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Thanks for raising this issue. I have the same concern.
You asked why this is so hard, so I will attempt to answer this question first: It is so hard because most web system designers do not consider this feature important. In their mind, it is not a requirement, so they do not implement this feature or test it. There may also be some web system designers that do not want you to be able to capture the web page, and actually go out of their way to make this difficult or impossible.
You also ask for suggestions. I believe the reason that printing does not work is that Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) allow the web system designer to change the layout of the web page for different devices (so that the presentation on a small smart phone can have a completely different appearance from that of a large monitor). What is needed is the ability to OVERRIDE the default or provided style sheet for printing to instead use a style sheet suitable for the selected printer. Perhaps this could be implemented in a browser plug in. This is certainly something I would be interested in.
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I very often print to PDF for documentation. What I often resort to in cases like this is selecting the important text (i.e. the actual article, the actual important information to save, but not the left or right sidebars etc.) and then choose "Only selection" when printing (using Ctrl+P in Chrome, choosing the printer "Save As PDF"). For some reason, when I do that, it's often much better formatted. Furthermore, the PDF will be smaller, as it will only contain the important part and not irrelevant text and images relating to other articles etc.
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I have found the Chrome extension from PrintWhatYouLike.com works well, allows you to remove all the junk you don't want and then save to PDF. Does a decent job in Chrome. Unfortunatley it does not work well in FireFox, which only supports a bookmarklet.
They also have an extension/bookmarklet that can combine pages where you need to keep clicking "next" to see more content, into one single page. But I have not used that one.
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For imnportant stuff if it is mainly text I cut and paste. If that does not work I just do a screen capture and run an OCR app.
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I use the 'Print Edit WE' extension in Firefox which also allows editing the page (removing ads, banners, or anything you don't need) before saving as PDF.
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Is a neglected electric piano a dusty Rhodes?
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This is a little out in left field. Did you have to wrestle with your conscience when you decided to post this?
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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As per government instructions, to minimise the spread of COVID-19 I'll be auctioning off bags of frozen water for the next 14 days – still not sure why I've been forced to sell ice so late.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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From what I hoard about it, it is to avoid getting into an R0 with your neighbors.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I'm not buying it!
Young enough to know I can.
Old enough to know I shouldn't.
Stupid enough to do it anyway!
JaxCoder.com
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yeah, just make your own.
for a small fee I can send you the recipe.
I accept Western Union or Bitcoin scratch bitcoin, ass fallen out of that one
pestilence [ pes-tl-uh ns ] noun
1. a deadly or virulent epidemic disease. especially bubonic plague.
2. something that is considered harmful, destructive, or evil.
Synonyms: pest, plague, CCP
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So your customers will be receiving frozen assets?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Frozen assets - is not that when a matched pair of cheeks are both exposed to excessive cold?
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I mean Jack and Jenny, not Jack and Jill!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Maybe so - but it doesn't solve a world-wide problem.
Most people's asses are broken - having a crack right down the middle. Apparently, many of them came that way.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Ah crap! I have been taking pictures of myself after midnight for three weeks.
One of us must have this wrong!
If you can't laugh at yourself - ask me and I will do it for you.
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That's the last time I leave brownies in the oven while I take a nap!
Young enough to know I can.
Old enough to know I shouldn't.
Stupid enough to do it anyway!
JaxCoder.com
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They're blackies now? 
Anything that is unrelated to elephants is irrelephant
Anonymous
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The problem with quotes on the internet is that you can never tell if they're genuine
Winston Churchill, 1944
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Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference.
Mark Twain
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Burned all the magic right out of em!
Young enough to know I can.
Old enough to know I shouldn't.
Stupid enough to do it anyway!
JaxCoder.com
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Coalies.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Johnny J. wrote: They're [this one] now?
If you ever visit the UK, I'd advise avoiding the word I've indicated.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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