EN World GameStore Closing

[philreed]

I think moden pdfs allow one to actiavte or deactivate layers, so it's possible to customize the appearnace; that would be ideal.

The problem with that, at this time, is that you eliminate a portion of the market that does not (or cannot) run a PDF reader capable of handling the feature.

 

[sjmiller]

I'm thinking of providing double pdfs--ones that exactly match the layout of the book and then a second printer friendly one. Obviously, I am not going to go back and redo old products, but it is something to keep in mind for future products.

Hey Clark, how about getting DTRPG/RPGNow/OBS to fix the files you currently have on their site(s)? I've been trying for almost a year to get them to upgrade the Wilderland's Players Guide to a version that is printable. The current one, to put it bluntly, is useless.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

I find that printer-friendly variants are also boring-and-crude-layout variants, or at least are too often. I personally almost always print out the screen version. I'd suggest making sure that the print-only version is still handsome and fun, just without the more ink-intensive parts and cutting down on colored backgrounds.

Except that, in most cases, "prettying up" the print version is in contradiction of its purpose. If someone doesn't care about ink and just wants what looks good, no matter how much toner is used, they print the full version. The print friendly version is specifically designed to chop out all that to make sure just the bare bones prints to make the result functional while not eating toner. Sure, the PF version should still have a clean, attractive layout, fonts, etc., but going much beyond that and you're muddying the purpose of having such a version.

I think moden pdfs allow one to actiavte or deactivate layers, so it's possible to customize the appearnace; that would be ideal.

At this point, considering such end users to be the market majority would not be wise. Many people print from offices, which means you'll still find a lot of versions of Acrobat that don't support layers in common use. Certain niche products, such as maps, may find layers useful but they still run into end-client problems. Doing an entire PDF manuscript with layers as an assumed tool can easily result in lost sales and disgruntled customers.