The Great Debate – Print verses Online

Just like any other debate, printed designs verses online designs, each have the advantages and disadvantages that have to be taken into consideration. The main points that have to be taken into consideration are readability, cost, editing and most importantly the audience. The pros and cons to all the considerations will be outlined below.

Readability
As known reading documents on paper is a lot easier that reading from a computer screen. The computer screen is harder to read off because the monitor projects light and also sometimes a glare from sunlight, making it difficult to read the information. This is when line spacing and bigger gaps between paragraphs make it easier for the reader and create larger white spaces. Whereas, print creates a clearer document and do not have to worry about glare affecting the reader. To sum it up Reep ( 2006, p. 157) explained that ‘white space helps readers process the text efficiently’, which helps people to want to read the document.

Cost
The cost for online documents is rather low compared to print. Printing costs are getting more and more expensive every year because of the large amount of paper that goes into each document. Not to mention that some people might see the large amount of paper as waste in today’s society. That is assuming that everyone has access to a computer and internet, otherwise, cost issues are reversed. The main issue to online document cost is the amount of access that is allowed, some sites might have a payment fee just to browse the site.

Editing
The obvious problem with editing printed work is that it has to be finalised before going to print. Basically the final product is unchangeable and the ‘deadlines’ have to be met with documents that have no spelling or grammar mistakes visible. Whereas online allows some flexibility when it comes to editing because if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes there is always the ability to change them in the matter of minutes. Therefore, it can be said that there is no ‘deadline’. Overall, in this case online is seen as the easier option because of the ability to change last minutes mistakes, with print what is done is done.

Audience
With the audience there are two considerations, one being reaching the audience and the other being the reader’s capabilities. Reaching the audience is easier with printed text because the information can be handed to them. More people are going to read the newspaper in print everyday that sit down at a computer and find the latest headlines. With printed documents, it is sort of a ‘one size fits all’ motto, there is no changing the size of writing to suit, it is up to the reader to be able to read it. Whereas, online can make the information larger with the zoom button. There is the chance that the information is read by a wider audience but that doesn’t guarantee that people are actually reading it. With the larger audience it is more difficult to judge who to aim the document at.





Image Source: Erin Ludwicks Portfolio

Image Source: Cosmopolitan Magazine

Image Source: Cosmopolitan Website

Reep, DC 2006, ‘Document Design’, Technical writing: principles, strategies and readings, 6th edn, Pearsons/Longman, New York, Chapter 6, pp. 133-172.

Salahub, J 2009, Print v Online Advantages and Disadvantages, viewed 19 October 2009, <http://writing.colostate.edu/index.cfm>.