[whatwg] window.print() when printing is not supported

[Robert O'Callahan]

On Tue, Dec 29, 2009 at 6:07 AM, Boris Zbarsky <bzbarsky at mit.edu> wrote:

> Come to think of it, airline boarding passes are the only case in which I
> print things from the web using either print buttons or the browser's
> "print" functionality.  Are there other common printing use cases?  What are
> they?
>

I print anything that I might need access to while travelling, since I don't
have a smartphone and if I did I wouldn't necessarily want to depend on its
battery lasting the entire time spent in transit.

Some users I know make hard copies of emails and other important documents
as a form of backup.

I print content that I want to read and mark up manually in situations that
aren't amenable to screen reading, e.g., group discussions.

People print content for distribution to others, e.g. handouts.

Using an electronic reader such as a mobile phone while you're driving is
actually illegal in many jurisdictions these days, so you would need to
print whatever you might want to refer to while driving. (I'm not
necessarily claiming this makes sense, but it's the law.)

Printing's going to be important until you can be sure that every person you
encounter carries one or more devices with ample battery life that lets them
retrieve and read your electronic content in an aesthetically pleasing way
without breaking the law. That seems a long way off.

Rob
-- 
"He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his
own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all." [Isaiah
53:5-6]
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