Tips for Printing Web Content

Printing web pages and images is generally quite easy. Below are some tips to help you get started. Remember: before printing materials from our web sites, see the Learning Page's Copyright Statement for information on Fair Use and American Memory.

The easiest way to print web pages is to hit the print button on your web browser's toolbar. Alternatively, you can access print commands from the file menu.

Netscape Navigator allows you to print an image from the web without the rest of the information on the web page, although the process is a little more involved. Put your mouse over the image you would like to print. Click the right mouse button (Mac users: hold down the mouse button). A menu will appear. Select the option to "view image." Your image will now appear alone on a new page. Print this page as you would any other web page.

Web pages with white text on a dark background will not automatically print out as black text on a light background. To print pages with dark backgrounds and white text, you will need to change your preferences on your web browser.

For Netscape Navigator:
On the browser menubar, select Edit - Preferences - Appearance - Colors. Select black as your font color and white as your background color. Then, check the box "always use my colors, overriding document colors." Then, print the page as you would any other web page. When you are finished printing, you may want to return to the colors menu and uncheck the box "always use my colors, overriding document colors."

For Internet Explorer:
On the browser tool bar, choose Tools - Internet Options. At the bottom of the Internet Options - General menu, choose Colors. On the Colors menu, change the background color to white and the text color to black. Then, print the page as you would any other web page.

If you are viewing a web site with frames, make sure you click your mouse on the frame you want to print before hitting the print button.

Tips for Saving Web Content

Images | Web Pages | Audio & Video

Saving Images

Images used on the World Wide Web are usually in .gif or .jpg format. American Memory also contains images in .pcx and .tif format. A complete description of these formats can be found in Viewing and Listening to American Memory Collections.

To save images:

1. Place the computer's mouse over the image. The arrow will change to a hand.
2. Click the right mouse button (Mac users: push down and hold down the button of the mouse).
3. A menu will appear. Select Save image as.
4. A box will appear in which you indicate the name of the image and where you wish it to be saved. Note: Web images often have non-intuitive file names (ex. 8406.jpg)—you may want to rename the image to something you will understand later (ex. goldrush.jpg).

NOTE: Saving an image (other than the thumbnail on the item record page) in Map Collections, 1500-2003, is a slightly different process.

1. In the collection's item record for the image, click on the thumbnail image to view the large version of the image.
2. Place the cursor over the image and depress the button (right button on PC mouse). Choose Save image as.
3. The pop-up box that appears will list the file name as "map_image" or "dyn_image" with "Save as type" as all files *.*. Name the image, add .gif to the file name, and save the file.

To retrieve images:

1. To view images, use graphics software recommended for your computer. Common software titles are Photoshop, Photo Editor, and PhotoDeluxe. Viewing and Listening to American Memory Collections has additional information about basic graphics software.
2. Open your graphics software. Select File - Open and select your image location (usually c: for your computer's hard drive or a: for a diskette) and the image name.

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Saving Web Pages

If you have a presentation or classroom activity in a facility without internet access, you can save web pages to your computer's hard drive or a diskette in advance so that the web information will be available to you when you need it.

To save pages to diskette:

1. While you are on the page you want to save, select File on the menubar of your web browser.
2. From the list that appears, select Save As.
3. A box will appear in which you indicate where to save the page, and what to call it.
4. Save the page with a file name plus .htm or .html following the name (Windows 3.x machines and lower use .htm). If you are saving a number of pages from a web site and want the internal site links to work, do not replace the file name that appears in the save as window (ex. index.html) with a different file name of your choice.
5. Save the page to a diskette in your disk drive (usually indicated as the a: drive or as an icon of a diskette).

To retrieve pages saved to diskette:

1. The next time you connect to the World Wide Web, put your diskette into the disk drive of your computer.
2. Select File from the menubar of your browser.
3. From the list that appears, select Open File.
4. A box will appear in which you indicate the name and source of the page to open.
5. Select the file name of the page you saved, and select your disk drive (usually a:) as the source.
6. The web browser will open your saved page for viewing. Links on your web page will be active and connect you with the page you select.

Note: If you are saving the files on the hard drive of your desktop or laptop computer, you will want to first create a new folder on your hard drive for the files you will be saving. Then, follow the process outlined above, substituting the correct letter of your hard drive (usually c:) for the disk drive.

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Saving Audio & Video

Some American Memory collections contain audio and video selections. Complete descriptions of the file formats for these media are in Viewing and Listening to American Memory Collections.

To save audio and video files:

1. Place the computer's mouse over the link to the sound or video file. The arrow will change to a hand.
2. Click the right mouse button (Mac users: push down and hold down the button of the mouse).
3. A menu will appear. Select Save link as.
4. A box will appear in which you indicate the name of the sound or video file and where you wish it to be saved.

To play audio and video files:

Listening to audio or playing of video requires free, downloadable player software recommended for your type of computer. Common audio and video software downloads are RealAudio and QuickTime. Viewing and Listening to American Memory Collections has additional information about basic audio and video software.