If you're one of many students who find printing at Computing Commons agonizing and confusing, or you shudder at the thought of completing your assignments at the Lattie Coor Building and then scrambling to class three minutes late, you might benefit from some inside knowledge.
In the past year during which I have worked at the computing sites, I have answered questions and helped students learn how to use the printing system and other technologies. During my training to reach the position of Computing Assistant II, and my later experience, I've seen students get incredibly frustrated and upset with their printing troubles. The best way to solve such problems is to understand the system, and ask questions.
But before we dive into the difficulties and solutions of printing, let's look at what the information technology computing sites are changing this semester that may just alleviate some of the anxiety and frustrations students have about printing.
The two major changes students will notice this spring are the printing screen and the availability of 11 x 17 inch paper.
The new change in the Pharos printing system is in the screen that pops up after "Print" is clicked. Instead of asking for the ASURite ID, an optional password and a job name, it now asks for only the job name.
"We thought that was an inconvenience to students," said Carl Rosenfield, a technology support analyst assistant.
Thus far, only 8.5 x 11 inch paper has been available in the computing sites. The addition of 11 x 17 inch paper to the selection is expected to fill the requirements of some art and architecture classes, among others.
Of course, you still have to pay for printing, which has been in effect since August of 2002. If we were to play the Price is Right, how much, without going over the cost, would you bid for printing one side of black and white on the larger paper? 10 cents? 16 cents? A whole dollar? Believe it or not, the actual price is 8 cents, the same cost for printing on the 8.5 x 11 inch paper.
Color printing on the larger paper will also remain the same, one dollar per side. To print in the ASU information technology computing sites, a Sun Card loaded with sufficient Sun Dollars is the only form of payment accepted.
For the students who get frustrated with printing, Rosenfield's advice is to ask any of the employees in the computing sites. Students should feel free to ask how to best utilize all the technology and services offered.
To print from one of the sites, the first step is to click on File, and then Print. Then, make sure the desired printer is selected, and change any options as needed. Once the OK is clicked, the Pharos screen will pop up, prompting for the job name.
To retrieve print jobs that have been sent to the printers, students have to locate the Printer Release Stations (in Computing Commons sites they are located around the Computing Help Centers) and swipe their Sun Cards at the keyboard. Then it's just a matter of finding the job name, printing it, and determining which printer the job is headed off to.
The easiest way to determine which printer your document is printing at is to watch the bottom of the screen at the Printer Release Station, which will indicate the name of the selected printer. If you miss it, you can always listen for the noise of the printers humming, or search each printer near the release station.
Common print problems include duplex printing, printing from Blackboard or other websites, and color issues. "Don't feel discouraged," said Karen Garcia, a computing systems engineering senior and computing assistant.
Wes Hashem, a biomedical engineering junior, said he thinks students should make sure they give themselves enough time to print.
Plenty of veteran students will tell you that procrastinating too long inevitably seems to end with equipment failure, tardiness to class or loss of assignments.
Leslie Smith, a secondary education senior and computing assistant specialist, and Chris Kasnot, a secondary education sophomore and computing assistant, offered some solutions to common problems:
- "Print Preview always," Smith said, referring to the feature in most programs that will show you what printed content should look like and how many pages you should expect to pay for.
-When printing from PowerPoint, Kasnot suggested using the Pure Black and White option rather than Grayscale.
-If you're going to print in color, Smith suggested printing it first in black and white to make sure the document looks right. Color is more expensive and staff cannot refund your money if you don't like how it looks.
-Be careful of printing from Blackboard, Kasnot said. Websites containing frames, like Blackboard, are tricky to print from. For beginning users, copying the text or images into another program like Microsoft Word may be the easiest route.
-If printing in duplex, be aware that printing an odd number of pages will result in a charge for both sides of the last page, even though the last page is blank, continued Kasnot.
-Printing to an Adobe Portable Document File and then printing from within Adobe Acrobat fixes many problems, Smith added. In some programs this can be done by selecting "Adobe PDF" as the printer, which saves the file that can be opened to print. Other programs offer a choice to Print to Adobe PDF.
With these tips in mind, and perhaps with the help of the well-informed staff at the computing sites, even the most computer illiterate students can be happy with their printed creations!
Laura Winger is an industrial engineering junior and a freelance writer for the Web Devil. Reach her at laura.winger@asu.edu.
This story was amended Jan. 18 to indicate that the Pharos printing system has already been updated.
