Suggestions for debugging print stylesheets?

Question

There is an option for that in Chrome's inspector.

1. Open the DevTools inspector (mac: Cmd + Shift + C , windows: Ctrl + Shift + C)
2. Click on the Toggle device mode icon , located on the upper left corner of the DevTools panel. (windows: Ctrl+Shift+M, mac: Cmd+Shift+M).
3. Click on the More overrides icon in the top right corner of the browser viewport to open the devtools drawer.

4. Then, select Media in the emulation drawer, and check the CSS media checkbox.

   

This should do the trick.

Update: The menus have changed in DevTools. It can now be found by clicking on the "three-dots" menu in the top right corner > More Tools > Rendering Settings > Emulate media > print.

Source: Google DevTools page*

I'm assuming you want as much control of the printed window as possible without using a HTML to PDF approach... Use @media screen to debug - @media print for final css

Modern browsers can give you a quick visual for what's going to happen at print time using inches and pts in a @media query.

@media screen and (max-width:8.5in) { /* resize your window until the event is triggered */
    html { width:8.5in; }
    body { font: 9pt/1.5 Arial, sans-serif; } /* Roughly 12px font */
 ...
}

Once your browser is displaying "inches" you'll have a better idea of what to expect. This approach should all but end the print preview method. All printers will work with pt and in units, and using the @media technique will allow you to quickly see what's going to happen and adjust accordingly. Firebug (or equivalent) will absolutely expedite that process. When you've added your changes to @media, you've got all the code you need for a linked CSS file using media = "print" attribute - just copy/paste the @media screen rules to the referenced file.

Good luck. The web wasn't built for print. Creating a solution that delivers all of your content, styles equal to what's seen in the browser can be impossible at times. For instance, a fluid layout for a predominantly 1280 x 1024 audience doesn't always translate easily to a nice and neat 8.5 x 11 laser print.

W3C reference for purusal: http://www.w3.org/TR/css3-mediaqueries/

Chrome 48 you can debug print styles within the Rendering tab.

Click the menu icon top right of inspector and Rendering Settings.

Edit
For Chrome 58 the location has changed to Web Inspector > Menu > More Tools > Rendering

In Chrome v41, it's there, but in a slightly different spot.

There's an easy way to debug your print stylesheet without switching any media attribute in your HTML code (of course, as pointed out, it doesn't solve the width / pages issue):

• Use Firefox + Web Developer extension.
• In the Web Developer menu, choose CSS / Display CSS by Media Type / Print
• Go back to Web Developer menu, choose Options / Persist Features

Now you are viewing the print CSS and you can reload your page indefinitely. Once you're done, uncheck "Persist Features" and reload, you'll get the screen CSS again.

HTH.