Earlier this afternoon, I was kicked back nibbling the last of the homemade soup from this weekend’s batch and mindlessly [mindfully?] surfing around some blog links to see where they might lead.
It has struck me that, in the last few days, I have been falling into more than my usual share of articles dealing with print in one form or fashion.
This article from The Man in Blue blog:
CSS, printing and user expectation
got me thinking in this direction again. I have read similar comments about the average user looking for and expecting a “Printer Friendly” link or icon, or both. Some might actually want to print out the little messes with graphics and sidebars and such that we display on the screen.
Maybe we are trying to snatch too much control back from our users. Usability is about choices for the person who accesses our web pages, not for us.
None of us want to go back to having to maintain two pages, one for print and one for onscreen display. Having to create .pdf files manually adds extra maintenance for the web designer, as well.
Printable .pdf's also add another twist for Susie Surfer who has never heard of the Adobe Reader and suddenly has that “deer in the headlights” look when it is suggested that she download a program from the web. Didn't that fellow who just charged her an arm and a leg to clean wicked viruses off her system warn her never, ever to do that? Surely Adobe is just sitting there waiting for her to do that so they can add something to her system that will cause her to crash and burn, again! [Someone please tell Susie that Adobe is only interested in draining her wallet, not infecting her machine. ;^]
Several alternatives are discussed in the article and following comments including one which is slightly off-topic, but interesting, on including logos in your print style.
Shortly after reading this article and having this thought replanted in my brain, I ran across this printing solution using a small snippet of PHP at maratz.com:
Ten Minutes to a Printer Friendly Page
This one spawned some debate on the accuracy of the PHP and bandwidth use, but it sounds like it might be worth testing and forming our own opinions of the results.
Speaking of more user friendly pages, I suppose I need to get myself out of the habit of “breaking the back button,” on external links even if I do it with a little script that does not break valid coding. Hey, if users would move out of that clunky, horrid, outdated browser [you know the one I mean] , they would have tabbed browsing and external links would be unnecessary to keep from losing the original website. *sigh*
If you are interested in finding a few of the other articles vaguely related to print, among other things, that I have wandered into lately, check that del.icio.us link down in the resource links in the sidebar on this page.
Farron
[who’s off to feed a hungry _^..^_ ]
I was just shown a link by a fellow LVS staff member that I do not want to lose, so I am adding it here.
MACCAWS... Making A Commercial Case for Adopting Web Standards
I might also suggest that anyone wanting to make a case for the advantages of designing to web standards to an employer or client might suggest they at least flip through Jeffery Zeldman's book “Designing With Web Standards” or look at a long time favorite site, Zen Garden and a new, soon to be favorite just discovered thanks to the MACCAWS site:
Be sure to take a peek and see some of the goodies there. I notice that the [until very recently] hybrid site, Happy Cog, has been reinvented and picked up an award here. And the most recent winner, Twinsparc, is absolutely lovely in my humble opinion. Since it posted on my birthday, I consider it a personal gift. [Wish I could take credit for being the designer...lol.]
I really need to get on the stick and work with this level of design and standards. Until the first of this year, enough of a percentage of my user base was still using good old Netscape 4.x as their primary, or only corporate, browsers that I was rather hopelessly stuck in beating all but *playtime* pages with hacks to accommodate them visually. But, like magic, they have finally started dropping that old browser like a hot potato in the last few months. What a freeing turn of events that has been! I can finally wander into the 21st century!
TaTa for now!
Farron & That _^..^_
The first group of students are rolling along in week three of the newly rewritten Level 2 XHTML/CSS class at LVS Online. We are starting them off in the Transtional DTD and taking everything in baby steps.
It is quite an experience to watch those new to coding start out at square one with XHTML and CSS instead of HTML4.01 with those good old <font> tags and twisted hacks we all cut our teeth on.
This class completed the first run of debbieT's Level One last term and I have them in Intermediate as we speak. Happy to report that the majority of them are taking to it like ducks to water. Issues and problems seem fewer and farther between than they were at this stage in the old HTML 4.01 style classes with hacks and deprecated codes included. That makes *the instuctor* happy and leading the class a much more pleasant experience.
And what's even more fun is seeing the interest in basic accessibility information.
In working with data tables this week I introduced a little tool that I had not seen in the piles of goodies hidden at WAI/W3C until I was researching the lesson. The WAI Tablin tool:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Tablin/form
I thought there might be groans but they are looking and experimenting with ways to make the content of data tables read in a more logical, linear fashion. Treating it like a fun, new toy, not just another drudgy checkpoint. Woo Hoo!
Wouldn't it be fun if we could influence even a few of the next generation of coders and designers to use standardized coding, CSS and accessibility features without even thinking hard about it. Have it become as natural as breathing. One can hope and work toward that goal in their own little corner of the world. *smile*
I wish I had been shown some of these things on day one. Just think of all the deeply ingrained bad habits I could have avoided. Coulda, Shoulda, Didn't. lol
That's all for now from our 17" view of cyberspace....
Farron and That _^..^_
Have you ever complained about the plain jane look of Jakob Nielsen's useit.com and used it as an excuse to avoid accessibility and valid coding?
Here's your chance to try redesigning that site to a more visually pleasing level:
http://www.builtforthefuture.com/reuseit/
No one says it will be used for anything, but might be an interesting exercise. I know I could use some practice in that direction. How about you?
Farron