Globalstar Product Management – Technical Support

Question: The Optimum Satellite Availability Tool works nicely, but how do I get a printout of the times?  Although the website displays both the results and the map, the browser will only print out the map.

Simple Answer:

Put your cursor in the results window, press CTRL-A to select all the content, press CTRL-P, press “Selection” and then press the “PRINT” button.

Descriptive Answer:

The results show up in a scrollable frame of the web page.  If you press the PRINT icon, only the viewed portion of the web page will display.

This is a common web design practice and is often frustrates users.  For example, when you order computers online (e.g., Dell), the selected configuration will show up in a scrollable frame and it seems impossible to print out a paper copy for review.  Other examples are online college application forms, automobile configuration forms, and so on.  Some users will have special software (e.g., “HP Smart Web Printing”) on their machine which will allow them to print selected frames of a web page, or to print out all of the frames, each frame separately.  Most users do NOT have such software.

So, here’s the solution.  This solution is not unique to the Globalstar site; you will find it useful on other sites where information you need is present on unscrolled regions of the page.

When you have the results page ….

1. Click the cursor somewhere in the “frame” which you want to print
2. Press CTRL-A or select the “Select All” item from the EDIT drop-down menu of the browser to highlight everything in the “frame”
3. Press CTRL-P, or select the “Print” item from the FILE drop-down menu of the browser
4. The browser will display a printer dialog box, and this dialog box has a section entitled “Page Range”
5. Within the “Page Range” section of the printer dialog box, press the “radio button” for “Selection”
6. Press the “PRINT” button (IE and Opera) or the “OK” button (FireFox), depending on the browser

Note:  The above procedure works for Windows versions of Internet Explorer, FireFox, and Opera.  The Windows version of Safari (Safari 3.0.2, 27-June-2007) does not seem to have the Print Selection feature working yet.