When I first started blogging, I would print a lot of the web articles I would find for research purposes, so I could read them on my commute home. This was long before the Kindle, useful RSS on smart phones or practical mobile web browsing. Bu even with all the updated technology at our fingertips, there’s still a need to print off a web page every now and then.
For some bloggers, the ability for readers to print off readable versions of their content is a consideration important enough to utilize a service such as PrintFriendly’s in order to offer proper formatting for their content. Bublicious is one such online publication, as the site will be using Print Friendly for more readable print versions of the articles found on this site.
PrintFriendly works by reformatting your site content into a more print-friendly version. The purpose of this is to limit the amount of paper wasted on print-outs, and provide a more readable version of web content for its tangible counterpart. Did we mention that limiting waste on poorly formatted print outs is also environmentally friendly?
For bloggers and site owners, adding the Print Friendly button to their site gives readers the option to print in a modified format instead of the standard option that comes as a default for regular printing options. Once readers click on the Print Friendly button, they’ll see a print preview of what their print out will look like.
The Print Friendly button option is actually an update to the Print Friendly service, which removes the need for coding, developers and other opportunity costs. The new button means that just about anyone can simply add the HTML code to their site in order to place the button as a viable option to readers. Now doesn’t that make things easier for everybody?
Another useful aspect of Print Friendly is the ability to make any web page print-friendly by providing the service the URL directly on its homepage. This is a feature that some other similar services don’t offer, and it really makes Print Friendly more accessible to the end users, which are the ones actually printing off the web content. A handful of printer manufacturers such as HP and Xerox have launched similar initiatives, providing print tools specifically for bloggers and site owners. Print Friendly, however, is rather dedicated to this single aspect of a consumer’s online experience.