How To Create A JavaScript Print Link

By  on  

Oftentimes a novice web user wont think to do something unless they are presented with the option to do so. I've found this to be true of many of the websites I make. I've added "email to a friend" functionality to customer websites and traffic seems to increase (albeit a fraction, but every bit helps).

Some websites are helped by adding a JavaScript "print" link. If you have a page with a coupon, for example, or a page that acts as a promotional piece, I recommend adding a "print" link. Users will get your subtle message and that could mean increased business / traffic.

The Code

Some quick JavaScript in the "href" attribute of the anchor will accomplish this goal.

<a href="javascript:window.print();">Print</a>

Be sure not to put the JavaScript in the onClick attribute of the anchor -- not everyone clicks a link.

Recent Features

  • By
    5 HTML5 APIs You Didn&#8217;t Know Existed

    When you say or read "HTML5", you half expect exotic dancers and unicorns to walk into the room to the tune of "I'm Sexy and I Know It."  Can you blame us though?  We watched the fundamental APIs stagnate for so long that a basic feature...

  • By
    Chris Coyier&#8217;s Favorite CodePen Demos

    David asked me if I'd be up for a guest post picking out some of my favorite Pens from CodePen. A daunting task! There are so many! I managed to pick a few though that have blown me away over the past few months. If you...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    HTML5 Placeholder Styling with CSS

    Last week I showed you how you could style selected text with CSS. I've searched for more interesting CSS style properties and found another: INPUT placeholder styling. Let me show you how to style placeholder text within INPUTelements with some unique CSS code. The CSS Firefox...

  • By
    Reverse Element Order with CSS Flexbox

    CSS is becoming more and more powerful these days, almost to the point where the order of HTML elements output to the page no longer matters from a display standpoint -- CSS lets you do so much that almost any layout, large or small, is possible.  Semantics...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!