Sent by Elliott,Randy A on 29 September 2003 16:04
My two cents worth-
This is a trap that I think we all experience often when working within a
group of internet professionals. Internet professionals making user
interaction decisions are far to experienced with the Web in general and too
familiar with the site in question to make rational decisions. My mother,
and most users, simply clicks print on her browser and watches the results.
Whenever we can allow users to interact with our sites and think as little
as possible about "how to make it work" we will succeed in drawing them
closer to the content. When we find ways to make that experience without any
technical knowledge or even a click we've done a great service to them.
Keeping it simple usually works best. What about the user who never notices
the print friendly links? Or has been burned in the past with poorly
designed so called "print friendly" pages?
Regards,
Randy Elliott
"Big Dark Coming Soon." Hunter S. Thompson
-----Original Message-----
From: Don A. Elbourne Jr. [EMAIL-REMOVED]]
Sent: Monday, September 29, 2003 9:40 AM
To: css-discuss
Subject: [css-d] Printer Friendly Version
A print style sheet makes the ubiquitous "Click Here for a Printer Friendly
Version" link unnecessary, or does it?
I'd like to use a print style sheet for a site I'm working on. You can see a
mock-up page here:
http://elbourne.org/css/3columns.html
Its a 3 column layout with a header navigation, and footer. The navigation
and two side columns would be frivolous on paper, so I hid them with the
print CSS. I changed to a font more suitable for print and made a few other
changes. Everything would be cool except for the protests I am receiving
from other members of the project. They may have a valid point.
People have grown accustom to mangled results when they use their browser's
print feature. Unless they are presented a "printer friendly version" on
screen, they may be reluctant to print the page at all. Having a clean
printer friendly version available through a print style sheet is futile if
users aren't made aware that it exists. So, some on the team are suggesting
that we really DO need a "Click here for a printer friendly version" link
that will give them a page on-screen, similar to what will be printed.
My question to the CSS-D community:
Are print style sheets useful?
Are printer friendly versions necessary or redundant?
What is the conventional wisdom on this issue?
Do any "big name" sites use printer style sheets effectively?
Thank you for your input.
Don A. Elbourne Jr.
http://elbourne.org
______________________________________________________________________
css-discuss [EMAIL-REMOVED]]
http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d
Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/
______________________________________________________________________
css-discuss [EMAIL-REMOVED]]
http://www.css-discuss.org/mailman/listinfo/css-d
Supported by evolt.org -- http://www.evolt.org/help_support_evolt/