print what you like!

True Confession Time: I still like paper.
 
At a conference, while everyone is on their tablets, I still have my colored pens and my notebook. I still process information better with a physical copy of a document that I can take notes on. I color-code the paper that my handouts are printed on for class activities so that I can keep track of which assignment the groups are working on.

Now, in spite of my apparent addiction to it, I still look for ways to minimize my use of paper:

• In-class activities are generally done in groups, with each group submitting only one copy
• Printing double-sided
• Using smaller font and narrower margins*
  

*Confession#2: this last one may be more due to my compulsive tendencies than conscious environmentalism – I am hard-pressed to think of anything more annoying to me than a document that takes up multiple pages when some small formatting tweaks result in a one-page document. Not only does it save paper, but information is visually easier to process if it’s all in one place!

• When using articles from the web for class assignments, I make a print or PDF version that leaves out all the extraneous visual clutter that takes up extra space, detracts from the content, and uses extra paper when making physical copies.

Which leads me to today’s Tech Tuesday Tip:  Reduce paper use by getting rid of the visual clutter! There are a number of ways to accomplish this:

• Use a web-based tool such as PrintWhatYouLike or PrintFriendly - both of these are tools that allow the user to simply enter a URL of a desired webpage, then use a basic web-based editor to remove selected elements before printing. PRO: Easy to use. CON: They often leave a lot of wasted white space (they certainly cut down on ink usage, though!).
  

• Use your browser’s reader mode to view the stripped-down version of the page (read How to Geek’s “How to Print Web Pages without Ads and Other Clutter”). PRO: Easy to use. CON: They often leave a lot of wasted white space (they certainly cut down on ink usage, though!).
  

• Use Word (or other word processing software) to edit out the excess content on your own. Pro: More editing control; much less wasted space. Con: Most people find that it’s not as simple to make the edits as with the other tools.

No matter which method you use, be sure to keep all of the critical citation information in your version of the webpage content!!

---

Just to show you how easy the web-based tools are to use, here's a demonstration using  PrintWhatYouLike:

In their own words, "PrintWhatYouLike [PWYL] lets you print the good parts of any webpage while skipping the ads and other junk." All you do is enter the URL of the website you are interested in, and PWYL opens a web-based editing screen that allows you to remove any of the layout elements that you DON'T want so that you can, well ... Print What You Like!

Here's an example: With Tax Day coming up, a friend of mine sent a quick Marketplace Radio piece, "What the Beatles taught us about tax policy." The print story is actually quite short, suitable for a quick discussion in class, but when I click on the link for the article, there are advertisements, social media links, and other flotsam & jetsam cluttering the page. If I want to bring copies of the article to class, or even if I just wanted to show the article using the projector, I'd like to do some visual decluttering.

---

---

All you do is go to https://www.printwhatyoulike.com and enter the URL of your desired webpage, click the "I am not a Robot" box, and hit "START".

You will see your website inside the PWYL editor, and you can start removing elements! Click on any single element or group of elements, and you will get a pop-up menu that allows you to edit that component. I most frequently use "Remove" and "Resize," but you should play around with it on your own to see what features work for you.

---

You can see the "before" and "after" difference in these two screenshots:

At this point, I have my article cleaned up and ready to print! Notice that you print from the left-hand editing menu - you can print directly, or print to a PDF (my usual strategy). I personally prefer to have a PDF that I can save for future use, plus I can also make further changes to the PDF within Adobe Acrobat if I wish to.

---

Here is a screenshot of my finished PDF that I can use with my class: