I am looking for a general advice on how to first approach this:
I'm working on a web app that should be able to print adhesive labels. I will be using those smallish printers that use continous (?) label rolls with a width of around 10cm.
I will be sending one label at a time, as they are all different from each other. They have formatted text, no barcodes, but they might (in the future) have a QR Code (which I can already generate, but I've chosen not to print, yet).
I do not have the printer yet, likely it might be an XPrinter o Brother brand. (It's unlikely it will be Zebra). The terminals using this to print will be windows based.
I have no prior experience with this sort of printers and some basic conecpts elude me so far:
How can I review that what I am "designing" on screen will be printed somehow properly? -> I haven't been able to force windows to accept custom sizes for a virtual pdf printer so I am not getting even a preview to work on.
I read over and over that you can't easily print from a browser to a label printer, but some of that info is old... is that still the case by 2024? is it so for any brand or specific for (i.e.) Zebra printers.
Do these sort of printer work so different from a laser/inkjet printer which allows me to print from any app as long as it goes through the OS's print manager?
As a side note, I wouldn't mind to put toghether a process like creating adequate PDF files in a folder and automating a job to send that to the printer as long as it works reliably.
Edit: Ok, so based on KJ's comments I wonder if sticking to a very simple "3 lines of plain text" design,would ease my case and I could get away without a Zebra printer (as those are extremely expensive in my country)...
I hope I've worded this properly enough. Thanks in advance.