JoliPrint: Print to PDF from Webpages - Easily Create PDFs
The Shift from Print to Digital and the Need for Better Webpage Printing
Recent announcements from Amazon indicate that e-book sales have now exceeded those of traditional printed books. While this suggests a growing acceptance of digital publications, it doesn't necessarily signal the complete obsolescence of printed materials.
The Enduring Appeal of Physical Media
Despite the rise of devices like the Kindle and iPad, many readers still prefer the experience of reading from a physical page. Consequently, the demand for printed books and articles remains substantial.
Challenges with Printing Webpages
However, directly printing webpages often yields unsatisfactory results. The formatting can be messy and cluttered, making the printed output difficult to read.
Introducing Joliprint: A Solution for Beautiful Webpage PDFs
To address the issues associated with printing webpages, several tools have been developed, including Readable, Readability, and Instapaper. These services aim to generate cleaner, more visually appealing versions of web content for printing.
Joliprint's Functionality
Joliprint offers a solution for creating aesthetically pleasing PDFs from any webpage. It provides a way to convert online content into a printable format.
Beyond Individual Use: Integrating PDF Printing
Furthermore, Joliprint extends its functionality by enabling website and blog owners to integrate PDF-printing features directly into their platforms.
Key Features of Joliprint
- PDF Creation: Joliprint generates visually appealing PDFs from webpages.
- Website Integration: The service allows for the addition of PDF-printing capabilities to websites and blogs.
- Improved Readability: It overcomes the formatting issues often encountered when printing directly from a browser.
Joliprint presents a valuable tool for both individuals seeking to create printable versions of web content and for publishers aiming to enhance the user experience on their sites.
Creating PDFs from Webpages: A User-Friendly Approach
For users, utilizing joliprint is remarkably straightforward. Simply input the desired webpage address and select the "joliprint it!" option.
The service then processes the page's content, removing extraneous elements. It subsequently converts the information into a PDF format and delivers it for download through the user’s browser. This provides an efficient method for gathering data for research purposes.
Whether or not the resulting PDFs are physically printed is entirely at the user’s discretion.
To assess the quality of the PDF output, a MakeUseOf article was converted using joliprint. The resulting document featured a two-column text layout, designed to enhance readability and optimize paper usage.
For comparison, the same article was also saved as a PDF without modification. This version retained the original website layout, including any advertisements present.
While a website’s layout is ideal for online viewing, it isn’t necessarily optimized for printing.
A notable difference observed was the page count. The joliprint version required only 3 pages, while the unmodified PDF spanned 6 pages.
Although manually entering web addresses for PDF creation is suitable for infrequent use, frequent users may benefit from installing joliprint’s bookmarklet.
To install, drag the bookmarklet button to your browser’s bookmark bar and assign it a descriptive name.
This allows for quick and easy PDF creation from any webpage encountered during browsing.
Enhance User Experience: Implement the Print Functionality
Website and blog owners can significantly benefit their audience by integrating the joliprint button. To accomplish this, navigate to the "Get the button" page and carefully follow the provided instructions.
The initial step involves identifying the nature of your online platform.
For standard websites, select the desired button style.
The concluding step is to obtain the embedding code, which you should then copy and paste into your website’s HTML.
However, if you maintain a Wordpress blog, utilizing the joliprint plugin offers expanded capabilities. The plugin can be downloaded directly from the Wordpress plugin repository, or…
Alternatively, you can locate and install the plugin through the administrative interface of your Wordpress blog.
Once installed, the plugin’s "Options" pages allow for various joliprint customizations.
One available customization is the PDF header. You can choose to display your blog’s name or define a custom text header. A graphic can even be used as the header.
Furthermore, integrating Google Analytics is possible. By adding your analytics code, you can monitor and analyze the PDF-printing activity of your website visitors.
After configuring the settings, verify that the joliprint buttons are visible on your blog and that the functionality operates correctly. By default, these buttons will appear at the conclusion of posts and pages.
As someone who still frequently utilizes printed materials, I consider joliprint’s service to be incredibly valuable. What are your thoughts? Have you experimented with joliprint? What is your opinion on printing webpages? Do you employ alternative services?
Please share your insights and feedback in the comments section below.
