Rentec Direct

Here at Rentec Direct we’re always testing out the capabilities of web browsers.  Our application makes use of some of the latest web technologies so it is important that browsers perform to make sure users’ experience is not just good, but great!

For a very long time the best combination of performance and security has come from Firefox.  Firefox is an open source application which has the most community support behind it for a web browser.  Because of the ample community support, and excellent programmers, Firefox leads the way still in performance and security.

Google Chrome just yesterday released version 5 of their new browser.  We’ve been using and testing with Chrome since version 3 and it has come a long way.  Chrome takes the cake in performance, even over Firefox.  Google Chrome 5 can rightfully claim the title as the fastest browser in the world, at least for now.  In our testing, Chrome 5 is noticeably faster all around the web.  It has native Flash support to give you the full web without installing any plugins and works very well with all websites we’ve tested it with, including Rentec’s BackOffice which makes use of many new web technologies.  Of note, with Chrome version 5, they now support plugins including some one of our “must have” favorites: Xmarks.

Other popular browsers include Microsoft’s Internet Explorer (IE) and Apple’s Safari browsers.  Neither has the performance and security that Firefox and Chrome have and while Rentec Direct is fully compatible with both, we recommend using one of the above.

If you are looking to speed up your web experience, try out the new Chrome, or if you are currently using IE try them both and see which fits your style best.  You will find your internet experience will improve significantly when you release that old slow browser.

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Firefox and Safari users may never have seen this issue, but Internet Explorer issues have often missed something when printing their reports.  IE often chops off the right hand side of the report when printing to some printers.  We had earlier anticipated that IE might correct the issue with the print jobs; however, we waited and waited and nothing came.  We’ve taken measures into our own hands to fix the issue and also make the print engine more flexible.

You’ll notice when you pull up any report preview now that the print button opens a new window instead of sending directly to the printer.  This follows common practice used by online applications such as mapquest and google maps when printing directions.  This allows for a couple things.

1. We can assign new styling just to the print job so when printing it does not include the border and a few other elements designed for the preview.
2. We can assign custom font sizes to your print jobs so you can define the size of the print.  Just visit Settings, then Program Defaults, and set the font size to your preference.  The default is 12px; however, a lot of users are opting to bump this up to 14px for easier readability on paper.

Product Update, Rentec Basic, Rentec Pro google maps, IE, mapquest, print jobs, printer