Small Annie's Attic rant

[shelly_bean]

Why is the printer friendly version of the patterns not quite so printer friendly?? I just printed out todays fpd and there are still tons of ads and colored things on it. isn't the point of printer friendly to remove those things and just have the pattern and maybe the picture of the FO?? sorry it just kinda bugs me .

[texasredhead]

I agree with you! But, you can go into preferences before your printer prints and change it to black ink only. That way you at least save the color. Sometimes, I highlight just the pattern and go in and save it on word so I only get the pattern and not all of the ads. Hope this helps!!!! I didn't see the pattern today, now I am curious!!

[shelly_bean]

I don't normally mind the colored ink, just the ads and what not that bugs me.

[laurah4200]

texasredhead- I cut-copy-paste to word too! I can't stand wasting ink on ads. I do like to have the picture and sometimes the usual cut-copy-paste wont work, so I have to save the image to my picture folder first. This extra step is really worth it.

I also hate those two pop ups that block your view of the free pattern of the day. I don't remember them having those last year. Annoying, but there's a free pattern involved so I guess I can't complain.

[Amy]

Why is the printer friendly version of the patterns not quite so printer friendly?? I just printed out todays fpd and there are still tons of ads and colored things on it. isn't the point of printer friendly to remove those things and just have the pattern and maybe the picture of the FO?? sorry it just kinda bugs me .

 

From the customer's point of view, you're right. But from Annie's Attic's point of view, you're not. As a business, they probably feel that they need to get SOME advertising of other patterns and other things they do in those free patterns.

 

Because face it, despite Annie's Attic's best efforts to make sure that people are not violating copyright laws and sharing these patterns with others, we all know it's happening. When you (generic you, not original poster) print the pattern for yourself and then make copies of it to give your friends, it denies Annie's Attic the traffic to their site from those friends, who if they visited the site might actually click on other areas. So by including the ads in the "printer-friendly" version, they're actually doing what they can to ensure the people who get the pattern without visiting their site are still exposed to some of the additional things available on the site.

 

Yes, it's annoying for those of who abide by copyright law and don't share copies of the patterns with others. But as usual, the honest people have to pay the price for the dishonest ones out there. In this case, that price is the extra printer ink you have to use to print the ads you don't care about printing along with your pattern.

 

I guess since the pattern IS free, we probably shouldn't complain too much. I bet most of these patterns are available for sale on their epatterns website (can't remember the exact link right now). I would hope that the patterns you purchase aren't filled with all the advertising. So for those who really don't want to print the ads, you could consider purchasing the pattern so you can print it out ad-free.

[sewmom]

I have stopped using the "Printer Friendly Version" and copy and paste directly from the free pattern page. You don't get the ads that way!!!

[Empress Busy Bee]

I too just copy and paste from the main page and don't bother with printer friendly. I include the picture(s) and diagrams on the word document. Then this gets saved onto my computer.

When I want to print one of the patterns, I copy and paste from one word to another and leave out the picture to save on ink.

Works for me.

[darski]

I agree with Amy. We get these wonderful patterns day after day after day. I don't think it kills us to allow a commercial company to have some say over what goes onto the page. you do have the option of doing without the pattern if you aren't willing to go along to get along.

 

I do save the patterns to my Word program as well but I have even learned to be patient with the two pop ups because they have generously shared all this with me.

[catlyn]

Hi-light what you want, copy and paste over to wordpad. Saves printing what you don't want.

I take out all unnecessary black ink words, too.

[trin]

Or just highlight what you want and hit print... it will work with most systems.

[boksie]

I cut and paste to word like many of the others but I don't print unless I'm ready to make. Every few months I go and download to a CD. In front of the title to the pattern I put a key word like "baby" "child" "sweater" "toy".... so it is easy to find what I'm interested in. I have a CD zip pouch that holds numerous CDs and I have one reserved for crochet patterns.

[kittyloverdeb]

I cut and paste to word like many of the others but I don't print unless I'm ready to make. Every few months I go and download to a CD. In front of the title to the pattern I put a key word like "baby" "child" "sweater" "toy".... so it is easy to find what I'm interested in. I have a CD zip pouch that holds numerous CDs and I have one reserved for crochet patterns.

 

What a great idea! You are very clever to do that! It also serves as a back-up in case something should go "phooey" with your computer.

[Real Deal]

If you copy and paste to Word, and it doesn't pick up the picture, make a space in your Word page where you want the picture to be put. Go back to the original picture, put the cursor over the picture and right click. When that little menu comes up, choose copy. Go back to your Word page, put the cursor in the space where you want the picture to be and right click. When the little menu comes up, choose paste. You can adjust the position of the picture once it is in place.

[crazycrochet]

I guess I am in the minority here, but the adds on the first page don't bother me at all. Normally the pattern starts on the second page. I just print them off of the printer freindly menu and I am done with it.

[papersmiles]

I guess I don't really mind those ads all that much. I've even found a couple of patterns or books from the ads that I have liked well enough to buy the item. Sort of like the advertisers on c'ville. I've visited MANY of the sites that advertise on here that normally I wouldn't have even known existed.

 

I do struggle with the fact that the patterns print out "edge-to-edge" leaving no room to punch holes for my project binder without putting a "hole" in some part of the instructions. I've tried doing SOMETHING with my settings to get it smaller but I'm obviously "computer challenged" as it hasn't worked. (LOL)

[nana5boys]

i also do the copy/paste and edit what i want for instructions. and then go back & copy the picture only on the front(if a small pic) or on the back (if a large pic).

 

jaye

[kazily]

I use a free version of Evernote, so I just add the printable version to evernote with a simple right click, then I delete the ads so I can print it whenever i want without the ads.

[sapphirestitch]

On my computer I can tell it to "print" as a PDF file. I just save it on the computer that way, and then print them in Adobe Acrobat when I want to use them.

[LittleJadeFrog]

I too copy and paste ALL of my patterns. This way I can format the pattern so it's easy for me to read and usually make the pic smaller. I like edge to edge because I like less pages and I put them in plastic sleeves anyway. I like little pictures and really do not need all the diagrams that some people put in their patterns. And I also make sure the designers name or website is on the pages I print out so I can give credit when posting or talking about a particular pattern.

[darski]

I just collected today's pattern and there were no pop-ups this time

[Empress Busy Bee]

I got pop ups.

[paperflowers]

I also hate those two pop ups that block your view of the free pattern of the day. I don't remember them having those last year. Annoying, but there's a free pattern involved so I guess I can't complain.

 

You mean there's a pattern under there? I wondered why their POD is always a nappy cake .