Customizing the print version of your WordPress website can enhance the user experience and aesthetics of your printed pages. By hiding URLs in the print page CSS, you can provide a cleaner and more focused reading experience for your audience. Remember to test your changes thoroughly and consider the specific needs of your website when implementing these CSS modifications. With a bit of CSS knowledge and the steps outlined in this guide, you can achieve a polished and professional print version for your WordPress site.
WordPress is a versatile platform, enabling users to create and customize websites with ease. However, there are times when you may want to control what appears when someone prints a page from your website. One common request is to hide URLs in the print version of a webpage. This can be particularly useful if you want to provide a clean and distraction-free printed version of your content.
Understanding the Need to Hide URLs
Before we dive into the technical aspects, let’s understand why you might want to hide URLs when someone prints a page from your WordPress website. Here are a few reasons:
- Aesthetics: URLs can clutter the printed page and make it look less visually appealing. By hiding them, you can present a cleaner and more professional-looking print version of your content.
- Focus on Content: When users print a page, they are often interested in the content rather than the URLs. Hiding URLs can help readers focus on what’s important.
- Privacy: If your website contains private or sensitive information in the URLs, you may want to hide them to protect user data when someone prints a page.
Now that we’ve established why you might want to hide URLs let’s explore how to achieve this on your WordPress website.
Steps to Hide URLs in the Print Page CSS on WordPress
- Access Your WordPress Dashboard: Log in to your WordPress admin panel.
- Navigate to Appearance > Customize: This will open the WordPress Customizer, which allows you to make various design and layout changes to your website.
- Add Custom CSS: In the Customizer, you should see an option for “Additional CSS” or something similar. Click on it to open the Custom CSS editor.
- Write Custom CSS Code: To hide URLs in the print version, you’ll need to write some custom CSS code. Here’s an example of CSS code that you can use:
@media print {
a {
display: none ;
}
}
This CSS code targets all anchor (<a>
) elements and sets their display property to “none” when the page is printed. The @media print
rule ensures that this style is only applied in print mode.
- Preview and Publish: After adding the CSS code, click the “Publish” button to save your changes. You can also preview the changes by clicking the “Preview” button.
- Test the Print Page: To ensure that URLs are hidden in the print version, go to one of your website pages and use the browser’s print function (usually accessible via
Ctrl+P
orCmd+P
). Check the print preview to see if the URLs are hidden. - Adjust as Needed: Depending on your website’s structure and design, you may need to fine-tune the CSS code to target specific URLs or elements. You can do this by inspecting the page elements using your browser’s developer tools and writing more specific CSS rules.
Additional Tips and Considerations
- Selective URL Hiding: If you only want to hide specific URLs or links in your content, you can assign custom classes or IDs to those links and then target them in your CSS code. For example:
<a href="https://example.com" class="hide-print">Example Link</a>
@media print {
.hide-print {
display: none ;
}
}
This way, only links with the “hide-print” class will be hidden when printed.
- Print-Friendly Styles: Consider creating a print-friendly stylesheet for your website. This separate stylesheet can provide a more optimized layout for printed pages, including font sizes, margins, and other formatting adjustments.
- Browser Compatibility: Test the print functionality and CSS code across different web browsers to ensure consistent results. CSS support may vary slightly between browsers.
- User Experience: Always keep the user experience in mind. While hiding URLs can be beneficial in some cases, make sure it doesn’t negatively impact the usability of your printed content.