Website Review

ASSOCIATES (2005, July, v. 12, no. 1) - associates.ucr.edu

*Print It For Free*

website review
by

Michael D. Brooks
Saint Joseph’s University
Francis A. Drexel Library
Philadelphia, PA

So there you are. Sitting at your desk all alone with little or no budget, and virtually no staff to speak of and you’ve got displays to put up, signs to make, thank you cards to send, and calendars to prepare. Where do you go? To whom do you turn? Why Printfree.com (http://printfree.com), of course.

Yep. That’s right. Now you can access a website dedicated to printing a variety of documents for free. And there’s no catch. You don’t have to sign up or register or promise to sell your firstborn offspring. All you have to do is select, click, and print. Printfree.com has a friendly, homey feel—very inviting.

If you need to make a calendar, you can. If you need to make greeting cards, you can. If you need to make signs, you can. If you need to make . . . well, you get the picture. Each feature is accompanied by a set of instructions on how to setup and print your projects.

Although the site is free for all to use, it’s not quite free to the designers. They are the unfortunate victims of TINSTAAFL (There Is No Such Thing As A Free Lunch). They do have advertisers, but the advertising is unobtrusive (and useful) if you’re looking for low-cost features and ideas that are not readily available on the site or not quite exactly what you need.

The site is clean and easy to navigate. To ensure that getting around is easy, even for those who get lost just going to the corner store, the site owners have developed a page to assist in circumnavigation with the Comprehensive Site Map page (http://printfree.com/Site_Map.htm).

The Terms of Use page (http://printfree.com/General_Forms/terms_of_use.htm) is straightforward in its explanation of what the site is about and how and who can use it and is a humorous tongue-in-cheek poke at fine print disclaimers.

If you enjoy your visit and like what you see, go to the Feedback Page (http://printfree.com/feedbackpage.htm) and let the Webmasters know.