Re: Printing and background colors/images

On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:13 AM, Brad Kemper <brad.kemper@gmail.com> wrote:

>
> On Feb 23, 2011, at 9:27 AM, Ian Fette (イアンフェッティ) wrote:
>
> Then, you /still/ have to as a user understand what the heck it means to
>> print backgrounds, and what exactly would be the difference. It's still
>> quite buried and it's still IMO an unnecessary cognitive burden to place on
>> the user.
>>
>>
>> Well if the default is to uncheck it when the author included a message to
>> indicate it is important, then those who can't understand can just accept
>> the author's choice.
>>
>
> So, in this case, there's really two options:
>
> 1. Prompt the user with something modal-like, -or
> 2. Just do it (change the check box that the majority of users will never
> see).
>
> I don't think you're proposing #1, but if you are we probably disagree :)
> If you're proposing #2,
>
>
> Mostly. I'm saying the author indicates with some text why he thinks the
> user should print backgrounds, and that would trigger the UA to do something
> about it, and show the message in a place where the user has a choice. The
> UA would have a lot of leeway in how it implemented. It sounds like no
> implementor would go for a modal separate dialog box, which is fine if they
> can solve it a better way. Ideally it would be part of the normal printing
> flow.
>


There's no guarantee as to the usefulness of the content-provided string. It
could be "Click here -> to get moar ponies". It may also not be localized,
etc etc etc. We would also have to consider sizing if it were to go into a
native dialog, and quickly we get into enough issues that I am already
dubious we would do anything with such a string :)


>
> it's mostly the same as what I am proposing - "Just print the stuff the
> author has said is important". The question then becomes "How does the
> author indicate that something is important and should be printed" and "How
> does the user override that if s/he disagrees?".
>
>
> Yeah, and "Can the author help the user make an informed decision" if the
> user is considering to override, and/or may be confused about the effects of
> the choice.
>
> #1 I don't feel strongly about as I indicated earlier in the thread, and #2
> I feel even less strongly about given that I am not even sure we (Chrome)
> would expose an option for such a small percentage of users.
>
>
> You mean you would let the background print if the author said to, but
> there would still be an unchecked box in the UI indicating that the
> backgrounds won't be printed? That doesn't seem like the right thing to do.
>

No, I'm saying we may not expose any option at all, and just always use the
"No backgrounds unless author explicitly states a background" method.


>
> I would note though that your solution doesn't give a good way for users to
> persistently express "I don't want to print backgrounds, period," which is
> likely the only group that would actually care.
>
>
> Hmm. Well I supposed it would be whatever the user chose when printing from
> a page where the author didn't indicate anything special. But I can see how
> that could make the print logic a bit too un-obvious.
>
> It might be better to have some sort of tri-state "Default [none unless
> author specified], Always, Never," especially given that such options tend
> to be persisted across print jobs.
>
>
> Maybe. That might be a little confusing too (the opaqueness of meaning for
> "default" to the casual user).
>
>
Indeed, which is why I just want to "do the right thing" without requiring
user intervention :)