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▲ meerita 11 hours ago

I cannot recall last time I printed something.

▲dofm 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I don't really print. I do make quite a lot of archive PDFs of articles by simply printing to PDF. Sometimes a design both breaks reader mode (which often makes a better PDF) and frustrates printing from the ordinary view.

For a couple of applications I have built recently, an offline view of the data in print form has been part of the design requirement. It's still reasonably common in situations where people will meet in real life and a physical clipboard will be needed with a register or some physical signatures are needed, or in situations where paper goes home with people from meetings for them to read and sign. So, lots of school/community/disclaimer tasks where you can't presume people have devices (or a device wouldn't be usable/practical/useful, especially in outdoor contexts).

These days PDFs are also useful for marking up in some devices.

For my own work, making an app printable is a basic thing I always do — it's part of the normal process.

But that often means little more than disabling headers/footers/sidebars, rendering simple text where a logo was, putting in page break guidance at sensible points, perhaps overriding a few text colours, maybe a couple of media queries for items that need to only appear/not appear in print. Basic stuff. From there, most "print this" views are little more than a slightly simpler template.

The cool thing about is that printability often comes up late in the requirements, and it's a thing people try before they ask you about it — they try to print from the demo. So it's an easy positive surprise if the print view does more or less what the user would hope for, right from the beginning.

Making it so all of an interface is at least basically printable is actually easy if you plan for it, and it's a good way of keeping focussed on broader usability.

▲mft_ 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Same. It rankles when I have to - usually because of some sort of antiquated approach to bureaucracy, like contracts or CDAs that demand a wet signature (despite then accepting an emailed poor quality scan of said wet signature).

▲akst 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I do it for reading sometimes mostly papers, I just find it a bit easier to read through something without distraction and easier on the eyes. That and it sits on my desk until I actually read it.

▲mlok 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Did you try e-ink / e-paper ? (Remarkable etc.)

▲bonoboTP 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

With paper I can put two or three pages side by side. Imagine needing 2 or 3 synchronized e-readers like that. And I can immediately draw on them, not worrying about what mode I'm in, what brush is selected blablabla. I can flip back and forth with my fingers etc. Downside is no search, no zoom no copy paste.

▲carlosjobim 8 hours ago | parent [-]

You can still copy paste and zoom.

▲bonoboTP 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Magnifying glass? Copy is hard, cut and paste, glue etc sure.

▲carlosjobim 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Yes to magnifying glass for zoom.

You copy with a pen or pencil, like the monks did.

Yes to cut and paste with scissor and glues.

▲akst 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I've enjoyed ink displays, but my kindle has been dead for some time and it was always kind of a pain to load stuff on too, most papers would require some kind of zoom as well although I'm sure they're better these days.

I do love an e-ink display, but I just like holding a sheet of paper, and not having to jump through menus to read something especially if I'm actively referring to it and revisiting it. Plus I can use my coloured fineliner on it, whereas the PDF viewer on my iPad crashes sometimes crashes if you look at it funny.

▲cardanome 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I do a lot of printing for TTRPG's.

Generally speaking, if you are in any group situation where you meet in person and want to share something, paper is still king. Easiest to share and no distracting electronic devices.

Also for learning I often prefer physical books and printed out worksheets. It helps engage the spatial memory plus you can write on them with an actual pen which also helps recall compared to typing.

▲lukan 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I started out printing complex claude plans to go through them in a different setting, make notes, think about it, modify, then tell it to execute.

But website printing in general, I see less of a need.

▲dofm 9 hours ago | parent [-]

Just last night I noticed that one tiny thing LM Studio has over the otherwise absolutely glorious Unsloth Desktop is that transcripts print really nicely out of the app.

▲voidUpdate 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've been trying to print a sewing pattern today, but apparently 2d printers are even less reliable than 3d printers, somehow

▲nkrisc 9 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I used to work for a vehicle listing site, and over and over again when we talked to real users they would tell us how they would make spreadsheets and print out our vehicle pages (and from other sites too) so they could compare everything together on their kitchen table.

We had just completed yet another other redesign and our (React) pages printed completely mangled and users hated it. We regularly got feedback about it.

And yet it was so low priority that me (UX designer) and a developer had to team up and get off the record permission to spend a few days fixing it in CSS alone while our managers covered for us.

When people for whom $29,000 is an enormous expense are purchasing a car, you can bet they are printing stuff and very, very carefully considering their purchase. Primary demographic was not young, tech native people.

▲dofm 8 hours ago | parent [-]

Property search websites too. Boggles my mind that Rightmove can make it possible for you to add notes on a property page but still has a shit print view.

▲nkrisc 8 hours ago | parent [-]

I think we all know the real reason, which I knew at the time as well: if you print the page, you aren’t seeing new ads.