Macromedia has announced printing capabilities for Flash. This means that Flash developers and content providers who use Flash-enhanced sites will be able to issue print commands from within a Flash-based Web page, thus allowing print-enhanced information to be sent to the printer rather than the HTML page.

Print-commands are issued from the Flash-page displayed, rather than from the Browser

Any application capable of generating Flash output can be used to create the file which will be outputted.•

Macromedia (www.macromedia.com) offers a free Development Guide on its Web site to show how printing capabilities can be integrated into a Flash document.

Major Points

Through this technology potential, it becomes possible to offer site-integrated print capabilities which genuinely complement the online experience, rather than simply reproducing the browser page.

The field of applications for this technology is extremely large, ranging from e-commerce to magazine and newspaper publishing.

Mid-term implications and repercussions are vast and could lead to a profound redefinition of Web-based services. Early adopters include high-profile manufacturers, e-commerce sites, newspaper and magazine publishers.

Analysis

Background: Under a relatively unspectacular shell, Macromedia’s announcement may well have major implications in the mid- to long term. Macromedia’s Flash format for graphically enhanced Web pages has been widely accepted as a standard. Macromedia quotes download numbers in excess of 200 million, and the free plug-in is now included with most Web browsers. (According to the company, Flash now has market-penetration in over 90% of installed browsers.) The advantages of the format are well-known: Flash relies on vector-based (and therefore extremely compact) graphics, rather than on the low-resolution GIFs and JPEGs used to enhance most HTML-based Web pages. It allows zooming into a page (e.g., a map) and Flash files can be created by a variety of applications, including Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand, and soon QuarkXPress.

Potential: The printing capability announced by Macromedia will allow designers and Web developers using Flash to prepare special documents to be sent directly to a printer (typically a low-resolution office or home device). These documents can be made up of elements of a Flash page viewed by the user. (Macromedia has shown the example of a South Park cartoon which was printed as a 4-Panel greeting card using the key images of the sequence.) The documents can also be self-contained; for example, one designed to produce a satisfactory product fact-sheet when printed on a laser or ink jet printer.

Application Examples

Fact-sheets could combine the elements of several Web pages, or even the elements selected by the user.

Magazines and newspapers could provide articles in a form which is adapted to low-end printers.

E-commerce sites could use Flash-based printing for order-forms, fact-sheets, as well as customized coupons to be redeemed at a local store.

An Essential Shift in Design Responsibility

The important step here is not the capacity to include print-ready documents in a Web site - PDF has been serving that purpose for a long time - but rather the shift produced in design responsibility. PDF is so far the best way to communicate legacy print documents electronically (even if the format’s potential goes well beyond this). In other words, Acrobat and PDF are representative of a print-centric universe that has moved over into electronic channels.

Flash’s printing capability reverses this focus completely: we are in a Web-centric environment where print-capability is not primarily seen as a way to communicate legacy documents, but as a means to enhance and improve the overall user-experience.

This also means that the design responsibility has suddenly shifted to the Web developers, and no longer rests with the print-design team. This may well have a major impact on the Web, and on the future of print. Imagine for a second what might happen if newspapers and magazines started using this capacity to enhance their offerings for readers.

28March2000

©2000 Pfeiffer Consulting