CSS2 Media Types

Printer friendly web pages with CSS and media types

Everybody knows that CSS is great for defining visual formatting and positioning on screen, but how many think of it as a useful way to define visual formatting and positioning for a printout? (Not as many!)

Some CSS properties are only designed for a certain media. For example the "voice-family" property is designed for aural user agents. Some other properties can be used for different media types. For example, the "font-size" property can be used for both screen and print media, but perhaps with different values. A document usually needs a larger font-size on a screen than on paper, and sans-serif fonts are easier to read on the screen, while serif fonts are easier to read on paper.

Media Types allow you to specify how documents will be presented in different media. The document can be displayed differently on the screen, on the paper, with an aural browser, etc.

Also see:

• Printer friendly pages using CSS
• http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_mediatypes.asp