kubuntu firefox should use kde print system

i approve this suggestion

same thing should be done for the file browser in firefox

I am moving this to kubuntu-default-settings and marking it as a wishlist item since if such a change were to occur, this is the package the change would happen in more than likely. The reason I haven't confirmed it is because I would like to know further what the added benefit of performing this would be other than having supposedly better KDE integration. I have tried this trick and haven't noticed any differences in my printing options or behaviors. Thanks!

Richard,

You haven't noticed any differences? I am having a hard time believing this. Perhaps you didn't actually apply the change in the correct way.

Firefox default printing dialog:

http://www.weiqigao.com/blog/images/firefox-printer-properties-bad.png

KDE printer with minimum options:

http://www.linux.org/docs/ldp/howto/Printing-HOWTO/images/snapshot-kdeprint-kprinter.png

With expanded options:

http://www.turboprint.info/manual/kprinter.gif

There is a *huge* difference in functionality apart of the better KDE integration. And there is a even bigger difference in usability (where are the printers in Firefox?).

Of course, eventually GTK/Gnome (firefox 3 is much better here as far as I know) will catch-up with most of the basic functionality of Kprinter, so we can just wait...

For the record, I understand that this is not high priority. The change is so trivial and easy to find in internet that most of the people don't consider it a bug but just a configuration option and at most they may blog about it, but never bother with filling a but report.

I am sorry for the way I worded the "I didn't notice..." portion of my previous comment. Of course I noticed it graphically, but functionality wise is what I was trying to get at. Using either the Firefox or the KDE print setup both have the same outcome, it prints and the same print configuration options are available.

Oh wow, I just noticed something. I was using Firefox 3 Beta 3 and the print configuration is totally different than Firefox 2. You have way more options with Firefox Beta 3.

So with that, I would say yes it would be nice to have the KDE print setup for Firefox 2. I am going to go ahead and confirm this. It would be nice to have total KDE integration honestly.

Thanks for the report and I apologize for the confusion with the previous comment.

Hi,

I was going to reply with screen shots, but some one already has, so
thank-you.

With KDE print system you also get the options to use the KDE functions such
a print to PDF, etc.

I do agree, this is a nice to have, rather than a bug - however, it does
stand out as odd if you haven't used Gnome (i.e you are only a KDE user).

I haven't tried Firefox 3 yet, but I look forward to it !

Thanks,
James.

On 28/02/2008, Richard Johnson <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> I am sorry for the way I worded the "I didn't notice..." portion of my
> previous comment. Of course I noticed it graphically, but functionality
> wise is what I was trying to get at. Using either the Firefox or the KDE
> print setup both have the same outcome, it prints and the same print
> configuration options are available.
>
> Oh wow, I just noticed something. I was using Firefox 3 Beta 3 and the
> print configuration is totally different than Firefox 2. You have way
> more options with Firefox Beta 3.
>
> So with that, I would say yes it would be nice to have the KDE print
> setup for Firefox 2. I am going to go ahead and confirm this. It would
> be nice to have total KDE integration honestly.
>
> Thanks for the report and I apologize for the confusion with the
> previous comment.
>
>
> ** Changed in: kubuntu-default-settings (Ubuntu)
>
> Status: New => Confirmed
>
>
> --
> kubuntu firefox should use kde print system
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/138756
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

Well, there is no kprinter anymore. KDE 4 uses Qt 4's print system and it doesn't look like this is going to change any time soon. So, in order to even be able to implement this we'd need a binary we can pipe the data through (similar to kprint but using Qt 4's printing capabilities).

Since there is no such application at this point, and since I do not imagine it to be a 5 minutes job, I'll set this bug report's status as invalid for the package kubuntu-default-settings (straight forward implementation at this point is simply impossible).

Also a general remark on the bug description. We can not hardcode paper geometry and name into a default setting, what needs to happen to have those defined properly (besides the fact that firefox should just detect the local and select appropriate defaults, which I hope it does anyway) is to have a firefox addon that queries Qt's printing system for those information.

Which is a shame because kprinter was such a nice and powerful program.

But anyway, new firefox is so integrated with GTK now, that one cannot use kprinter anymore. This can only be fixed by firefox developers now.

(Nonetheless, KDE4 still has a long way to catch up with KDE3 printing capabilities, is there any roadmap? Is Kubuntu contributing to this development?)

One question to the kubuntu developers. Does it actually helps that we report what is missing in KDE4?

If so, I may do the jump to KDE 4.3 and start filling bugs.

Otherwise, I would rather stay with KDE 3.5.10 until Hardy runs out of juice and then probably a bit more. Printing in particular is something in KDE 4 that needs a lot of work to get to the level of KDE 3.