On 5/10/06, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
On 5/10/06, Doug Chestnut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Lars,
> You could just add a css stylesheet with a media type of print:
> http://www.alistapart.com/stories/goingtoprint/
I like alternate stylesheets for different media. They are extremely
useful for screen readers for the blind, but using the suggested
technique violates WYSIWYG. The (sighted) visitor sees the page
formatted for the screen. They print it, and it magically changes to
the printable version. The problem is they were expecting to print
the page they were seeing. They could be upset that it did not print
what they saw, because they wanted to show what the website looked
like. And they may still use the workaround of copying the body and
pasting it into a different program to print, because that is what
most websites require. A warning like "This page may be formatted
differently when printing" may help if the visitor notices it, but you
want it obvious without distracting from the content: difficult to
find the happy medium. The common practice is to provide a link in
the top right right corner for "Printable Version". Visitors have
been trained to look for that link if they want a clean version,
whether for printing or just to read a multiple-paged article as a
single page without annoying advertisements. And it does not violate
WYSIWYG when they print it.
I like your suggestion, but until it becomes common practice, it may
cause more confusion more than it helps.
solprovider
In my experience, site users (as opposed to developers) rarely care
whether the printed page appear exactly like the on-screen page.
Instead, most people just want a nicely-formatted paper version of the
significant text on the page. (If they really want to see what the
printed version will look like, they'll do a File -> Print Preview.)
I find it best to use the simple approach in the A List Apart article
cited. Then users don't have to search around on the page for a
"printer-friendly version" link that may or may not be there. I've
never heard a complaint from users on this.
Opinions may vary, as usual.
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