Printing From the Web Without All the Waste – PrintWhatYouLike

Chris Sully — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:57:50 +0000

Printing information from web pages has always been a hassle. You find a web page with some information you want to print out so you click on the printer icon in your browser. Instead of the page or two that you expected to come out of the printer, you get 14 pages of complete randomness with your information sprinkled in. 12 pages go in the trash, your wallet gets a little lighter from the paper and toner that just went down the drain, and a few trees scream somewhere off in the distance. If you are like me, you avoid printing from the web so you can escape this hassle and waste. That was, until the introduction of PrintWhatYouLike.com!

PrintWhatYouLike.com was created by two developers who shared our frustrations with printing from the web and decided to do something about it. The PrintWhatYouLike tool comes in several forms (listed below) and provides users the ability to choose what elements of a web page they want to print before the information is transmitted to their printer. Print a single paragraph, an article, an image or several pages of information. It is entirely up to you. This truly amazing service is provided to you for FREE, so there is no reason not to start using it today.

For those of you who don’t want to print at all, or simply want to archive information found on the web in a different way, PrintWhatYouLike also offers the ability to save the pages you find as a PDF. Just use one of the options below to activate the PrintWhatYouLike feature and then choose Save as > PDF instead of Print. Save the file anywhere you want and access it later on. This is a great feature for those of us who don’t want to shell out several hundred dollars for a PDF creation software.

The Many Forms of PrintWhatYouLike

Every user has different ideas of how a tool should be used, so the folks at PrintWhatYouLike gave us some options on how and where we can implement their service.

Bookmarklet

Link: http://www.printwhatyoulike.com/bookmarklet

The bookmarklet is a simple way to integrate the PrintWhatYouLike feature into your browser without any sort of installation. Simply visit the link above and follow the instructions to drag some text to your bookmarks/favorites area in your browser. The next time you want to print something, simply click on the bookmark and the PrintWhatYouLike editor will appear around the page you are on.

The Bookmarklet Looks Like a Bookmark but Functions Like a Print Button

Firefox Add-on

Link: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9290

This add-on provides a more integrated option (for Firefox users). Visit the link above and install the add-on**. It is listed as “experimental” right now, but I have been using it for months myself. Replace the standard “print” icon in your browser with the PrintWhatYouLike button. This will help you remember to use this great feature when the time comes.

** After installing this add-on, you will need to restart Firefox and then take one additional step to get the icon to show up in your browser. Right click in the menu area (somewhere near help) and choose Customize. Scroll down and look for the PrintWhatYouLike icon (like the one at the top of this article) and drag it into your menu bar, wherever you want it.

Customize Your Firefox Menu Bar to Add the PrintWhatYouLike Button

Look for Our Pre-Configured Print Button

For regular readers of the JumpstartMyPC.com blog or anyone who wants to print out today’s article for later use, you can now use the green Print button located at the top of our articles. This button has been configured to print only our article and images, without all the menu options and sidebar information. Push print and send the information to your printer without any hassle or selection. We’ve done the work for you.

The Print Button is Now Part of Every One of Our Articles

Customer Service is King

On a side-note, I would like to point out that the PrintWhatYouLike.com team is as fantastic as their product. I ran into some trouble when creating the Print button for our articles and received A+ support from Jonathan, who is actually one of the creators of this product. This top-notch customer service, in addition to a great product, means I won’t even think about trying a competitor’s product. It is a shame that other companies don’t understand the importance of communicating with and helping their clients.

Turn Your Existing Printer into a Wireless Solution

Chris Sully — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:37:59 +0000

Over the last few years, you’ve slowly upgraded your existing setup to include high-speed internet and Wi-Fi. You can take your laptop anywhere in the house and surf the internet with ease. Unfortunately, your old printer still has you tied down. You bought it before Wi-Fi was available in everything and you’ve since stocked up on ink, so you really don’t want to invest in a new printer. Luckily, there are some options that make it easy to “cut the cord” and begin printing wirelessly at home.

Print Server

I recently stumbled onto an article from Amit Agarwal (a blogger at digital inspiration) titled How to Make Your Wired Printer Wireless. In the article, he outlines 3 wireless print servers that help connect your printer to a wireless network, so you can relocate your printer or simply print from anywhere that your wireless signal will travel. In the blog, Amit explains “Wireless print servers are small devices (they look like mini routers) that have a USB port. You just have to connect the printer to this wireless print server using a regular USB cable and the printer will then become available to all other computers in your wireless network.”

The article also highlights 3 of the most popular wireless print servers:

Netgear WGPS606 – available on Amazon.com for $62.
Linksys Print Server – available on ecost.com for $17. ** Sold elsewhere for $75 – this is an amazing deal!!
HP Wireless Kit – available on Amazon.com for $90.

Using Existing Hardware

I am often surprised to find out that the equipment I already have might be capable of handling a new issue or need. In an ongoing effort to save money and help you get the most out of your PC, I investigated some ways of using existing equipment to “unwire” your printer.

Some wireless routers have a USB port for sharing printers and storage devices. Amit even recommends the Netgear WGP606, which is technically a router, as a solution. Maybe your current router offers this same support. Check the back of your router or visit the manufacturer’s web site to find out.

The D-Link DIR-655 has Support for USB Devices

You can also use your desktop PC or laptop as a relay to enable wireless printing. The process, known as printer sharing, is different for each operating system, but we found some “how-to” documents on other sites to help you out:

Windows XP – Printer Sharing on a Home Network
Windows Vista – Share a Printer

Maybe it Would Just be Easier…

Depending on your comfort level with computers and the amount of free time you have on your hands, you can probably get any printer setup and ready to print in an hour or so. If you are not very comfortable with this kind of “exploration” then you might find it is time to just break down and buy a new printer. There are many options available and some of the entry level printers have Wi-Fi capabilities built-in. The prices for new printers have dropped dramatically over the years, meaning that you can now get a new printer for as low as $55.

I have not researched or owned any of these, but a quick search on Amazon.com revealed a few cost-effective entries for “wireless printers”:

Lexmark Z2420 Color Printer Wireless – $54.39
HP Officejet 6000 Wireless Color Inkjet Printer – $84.45
Epson Stylus NX510 Wireless Color Inkjet All-in-One – $69.99