Writing text for online reading is different than composing an article for a printed magazine. One assumption is that visitors are “jumpier” than readers. Subtitles, shorter sentences and paragraphs are key-elements in formatting online text to best effect.
The visitor's interest needs to be captured before clicking on the next link. This is comparable to newspapers, where many pieces of information compete against each other on the same page.
Online content is printed on a crispy, blank page. There simply is no competition. The same text which was effective on the screen might look very bland printed. The short content, tuned to convey a message by starting every line with the perfect keyword, might look very lost when printed on a sheet of paper using the whole page-width.
Better to have no information than one that is out of context
Web-pages are not structured sequentially – unlike a book. The whole point of a web-site is to enrich it with links, connecting it to information that the visitor might find useful. Web-sites tend to tear information into chunks or create many entry-pages, leading further into the site. That makes very much sense in regards to online reading. Also advertising profits from that, because more pages mean more ads served and better information, what the user is interested in.
Word on the net is that 80% of traffic does not hit the homepage but directly jumps deep into a site. If the accessed page is only a segment of the relevant information, a printout is useless or at the very least out of context. It is not possible to really understand the quarterly numbers, when the company-strategy leading to those results is not known.
Having incoherent information lying on “to be read” stacks can be very detrimental because the context is lost even further by time passing by.
Loose control over the content
Content needs to change, because contrary to a printed page, a web-site is expected to be up-to-date. The owner of the site is generally in control of the content published.
A printed page represents a snapshot in time of the ever changing content. Not only does the publisher loose control, but the information is no longer accurate.
Goodbye branding, goodbye image
Information is conveyed through many channels. There is factual content –usually text - but at the same time and equally important there is soft-content. Screen-design, key-messages or special-features for example are key elements, which can not be accurately displayed in print.
These channels merge together to convey “the image”. Most of the time, this is a carefully planned part of corporate branding and does not come cheap. The simple “print this page” button reduces the elaborate corporate communications to a “default-font” page, where the logo is displayed within a dark, square box, the browser adds a cryptic web-address as a headline and the styled product-description is reduced to a two-liner with no hyphenation.
It stops the user from browsing
Designing a page aims at one thing only – keep the visitor engaged and interested. Printing a page can be a dangerous break in a flow the visitor is now comfortable with. A popup appears asking to select a printer. A choice needs to be made, taking the mind away from the carefully planned information-architecture. Usually people wait very anxiously and even reach for the page coming out of the printer before it is finished. Then they look at it and ask themselves “where was I?” This interruption might be enough not to return to browsing.
Why would I want to print a page?
What are the main reasons that a visitor wants to use a “print-this-page” function.
- Forward the information to someone
- Store the information for later use
- Read the information offline
These are all valid needs. Printing out an individual web-page might however not be the best solution.
The solution lies somewhere else
Forwarding the link, maybe with some prepared text, should take care of the first action. Well formatted bookmarks using descriptive URLs and intelligently hinting at this feature on the page itself, will solve the second requirement. Both leave the information within the framework and control of the site.
If information needs to be printed it needs to be prepared and put into context. An example: a good print-version of a product page should contain a description, detailed information, some essentials about the company and maybe a reference where to purchase the product offline.
A print-version requires a format that is intended for printing and not one intended to be used within a browser. In order to correctly use elements from the corporate identity or appealingly display text, PDF might be the best choice available for now. From the perspective of online usability, PDF is not unchallenged. But in this case we are talking about physical, printed usability. And if it is the wish of the user to print, it is the command to the site. But let's get the best out of it – it is the visitors return ticket.
This Was A Bad Idea
Your Current Fixed Interest Rate Isn't Much Different Than the New Rate ? If you are thinking about refinancing to a lower rate and your interest rate is less than 2% higher than the new rate, refinancing isn't going to make much of a difference. After refinancing fees, you may even end up spending more on the new loan than you would if you just stayed with your existing loan.
You Have a Fixed Rate Mortgage and the Adjustable Rate Mortgages are Looking Tempting ? Please hear what thousands of overstressed and overdrawn homeowners would tell you. Don't abandon your fixed rate mortgage in order to get an adjustable rate mortgage. Those early "teaser" rates that last for two or three years cause more grief than they solve. You may believe that you will be able to afford those higher payments in a few years, but so did most people who started out with adjustable rate mortgages. Do what they wish they could do now. If you have a fixed rate, then stick with it. Adjustable rate mortgages only cause problems in the long run.
You Are Still Under a Prepayment Penalty ? In most mortgages, one of the clauses is usually a prepayment penalty. A prepayment penalty states that if the mortgage is paid off within a certain period of time, generally around two to five years, the homeowner will be required to pay a penalty. Since the process of refinancing requires that the original mortgage be paid off and a new mortgage be taken out, refinancing falls into the category of prepayment. There are two types of prepayment penalty clauses. A soft prepayment penalty applies only to prepayment due to refinancing. A hard prepayment penalty applies to prepayment due to refinancing or selling your home. Be sure to read your mortgage paperwork to determine if you are still under a prepayment penalty, what type of prepayment penalty you have and what that penalty is, before proceeding with a refinance.
You Want to Go On a Vacation, Buy New Furniture or Get Plastic Surgery ? Really think about what you're doing when you refinance in order to gain access to the money you have in equity. If you are pulling your equity out to upgrade your kitchen or make improvements to the actual structure of your home, that is a good use of equity because those improvements increase the value of your home. If you spend your equity on furniture it will never increase the value of your home. It may make your home look nicer, but since it goes with you when you move, your home's value will not be increased. In the same way, because it doesn't increase the value of your home, refinancing in order to get money to go on vacation, get plastic surgery or go on a shopping spree is a bad use of equity.
Both Raoul Dobal & J Suffie are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
J Suffie has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Foreclosure Help and Types of Cancer. You may be considering getting a home refinance right now. Well it's not something you go into uninformed. There are mortgage brokers out there that will happily ta. J Suffie's top article generates over 49500 views. Bookmark J Suffie to your Favourites.
Buy A Private Island In short, the resort is truly a private island paradise in Bora Bora
