[Sigia-l] Transparent CSS-styled print versions or "Print version" button?

[Piet Kopka]

We are thinking about removing the "Print version" buttons from the 
websites we redesign in the future.
Mostly this print versions are generated on the server and are sent to 
the clients after clicking on a button called "Print version".

Another method would be to make a special print style sheet which the 
browser calls when the user is using the browsers build in print 
function. (This is done by inserting an alternative style sheet. You can 
read more about that on http://www.alistapart.com/stories/goingtoprint/ 
where you also can try this method.)

In short: This would reduce complexity with compareable comfort and less 
http-requests. (Only the alterative style sheet must be loaded through 
the network.)

Drawback could be, that this function is used very rare on todays 
websites and the users might be surprised by what comes out of their 
printers.

My questions are: Is the surprise good for enough users to wipe  away 
that there is a surprise at all. A suprise is normaly a bad thing, 
because it reveals, that something don´t work as expected. Do users like 
the "Print version" buttons and use them so much that it would bother 
them if this button isn´t there?

-- 
Piet Kopka