Designing Print Freindly Pages

I just read an article on how designers tend to neglect the design of print friendly pages (if they do them at all) and I just wondered if when you have to create a print stylesheet do you just make it so that it's quick to print out without too many images or colours or do you actually consider the design as you would for the site itself?

It's a funny one really, I suppose the aim is to get something easy to print and easy to read so designers tend to cop out a bit with regard to design. But what you're doing essentially is designing for print via the web. Hmmm...

I've never really considered it properly before but I will from now on.

Pete.

P.S. Oh by the way, here's the article I read, It's very good. http://www.markboulton.co.uk/journal...nting_the_web/

I guess it depends on the client I am working with. But if I had complete control over the printed control sheet I would just have the logo nicely formatted at the top, and the text styled to the left.

The thing is, if there is any amount of information some people like to print it off and read it that way, I do it a lot myself. If this is the case then maybe it's worth spending the time to design the print sheet properly. If you were doing a booklet or leaflet for print then you wouldn't just have a logo and left aligned text would you, so why should an online user expect that. I mean, it doesn't matter really but it's just a thought.

One problem with taking your time designing print pages is the cost. Sure I could churn something out no problem but if a client wanted a high quality print design in addition to the site then it would push the costs up, in some cases considerably so. I'm doing some print design at the minute and it's not easy, though it is fun. Well, it's a nice change anyway.

Pete.

I see what you are saying and completely agree. I find it is almost always worth doing a print style sheet, but never do an advanced one without the user requesting it...because let's be honest it is their money, and there are allot better things I could/should be doing with it...unless they request it, I keep the style sheet basic for print.

My print style sheet on the screen:

http://ryanfait.com/?disable=CSS

I think a print style sheet is a good idea, but at the same time, most people print something out to read , and then they throw it away. Jacob's simple logo + text formatted to left makes sense; what more could someone want on a printed page?! It's not like you can program AJAX or something on it. lol
Integrating a printer friendly option is a good idea, but it's even better to have a printer friendly design by default. It's not impossible!

Nah, plus it only takes like 5 or 10 minutes of your time...it is worth it.

What more could someone want from a print page? Ask any print designer, even if it is just to read, it's more than just a logo and a left align. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, not to mention experience, to get a perfectly readable printed page.

Pete.