Does it Matter if my Website is Print-Friendly? An Overview of Print-Friendly Websites

TLDR; OK

• a print-friendly website is designed to look good when printed

• can print to paper or digital PDF file

• can design for different sizes of paper

• a print-friendly website may not be essential

• a print-friendly website can improve the user experience

• a print-friendly website can enhance clarity in business communication

• requires a great attention to detail and knowledge from the web developer

• results in a higher-quality end product

What is a print-friendly website?

A print-friendly website is a website that is designed to be printed to paper or a digital PDF file. A print-friendly website has specific design and development qualities that make the content accessible when printed on paper or PDF.

A print-friendly website allows users to capture the content in a portable manner that is easily shared and accessed offline.

A print-friendly website is just a website that looks good, and functions to deliver value in a printed form. Once designed it is available to be printed to paper or a PDF. There are different sizes of paper, and the website can have a custom design for each size if desired.

A web page is an online document with enhanced functionality. A print-friendly website allows users to capture the content in a portable manner that is easily shared and accessed offline.

Is it important to have a print-friendly website?

For most businesses and organizations a print-friendly website is "a nice to have featured" but may not be essential. Making your website print-friendly improves the user experience and may also enhance the clarity of your client communication.

Furthermore, a developer with experience in making websites print-friendly will consider many fine details often overlooked by others. Therefore the effort to create a print friendly design will likely result in a higher quality end product.

Print-friendly websites offer a good user experience

User experience design (UXD) is a reference to a process and methodology of design where the end users' needs and emotions are paramount. UXD requires empathy and consideration of how a user feels as they navigate through a product or service.

A print-friendly website is more accessible... and accessibility is an aspect of user experience design.

So what if your user wants to print your article, recipe, or DIY steps? What if they want to share your content or design with others? Link sharing does not guarantee the same view or experience, but printing and sending a PDF will.

A print-friendly website is more accessible, not everyone has equal access to the internet. With a print-friendly website, someone may be able to access your content from a public library and save the documents to read later from home. Accessibility is an aspect of user experience design.

Print-friendly website can improve business communication

A print-friendly website can enhance the clarity of communication between businesses or organization and their end-user or client.

A print-friendly website can enhance the clarity of communication between a business and their end-user

How? Let's consider one scenario: you get an email from a client asking a simple question...

The answer to their question is on your website, and you know exactly where.

However, they don't know about your website or they couldn't find the answer.

They even may be frustrated from trying.

You could write them back answering the question and sending a link to the appropriate information...

Or you could write them back and attach a printed PDF of the exact webpage they need that links to the live site and looks near identical, you could even use a digital stylus to write a personal note on the PDF.

Or you could write them back answering their question and attach a printed PDF of the exact webpage highlighting the appropriate content and even writing a personal note on the PDF.

The PDF document even links directly to the website.

The PDF document even looks near identical to the live site which reduces cognitive fatigue. This creates a seamless and personalized experience for the end-user and likely requires less effort of you to type descriptive instruction.

Print-friendly website requires a greater attention to detail

There are many fine details to consider when designing and developing a website. Some of which might never be properly addressed. Many of these often overlooked details become very clear in the print preview of an online site.

Designing a print-friendly website requires greater attention to detail and an increased understanding of web development practices.

Often we see broken and misformatted images, text, and content sections. These common issues may also cause a slow-loading website and poor user experience.

Furthermore, creating a print-friendly website requires an understanding of both mobile and desktop design as the browser print preview window uses unique styling constraints.

Designing a print-friendly website requires greater attention to detail and an increased understanding of web development practices. Making your website print-friendly will likely require many other issues to be fixed - resulting in a faster site and a better user experience.

Summary

A webpage is just a document, and a website is like your personal library. These online documents have enhanced functionality for links, sending and receiving requests, animation, and accessible design practices.

The value of any document is in the content it contains, and a print-friendly website allows users to access this content without the internet, in a reliable, and sharable fashion.

The value of any document is in the content it contains, and a print-friendly website allows users to access this content without the internet, in a reliable, and sharable fashion

Having a print-friendly website may not be essential for your organization or business. However, a print-friendly website can enhance your user experience and improve clarity in your business communication.