A green file format: WWF

> Think before you print A new green file format: WWF The WWF format is a PDF that cannot be printed out. It’s a simple way to avoid unnecessary printing. So here’s your chance to save trees and help the environment. Decide for yourself which documents don't need printing out – then simply save them as WWF.

You don't have to think about printing it, you just can't print it. At that point, I would stop thinking about printing and start thinking about murdering someone. Sure, that saves a tree, but someone else is going to die.

Painfully.

Whether or not to print something that looks like it should be printable should be my choice. If it shouldn't be printed, then don't format it like it should be printable.

Or, you know, put messages on it saying "Printing kills trees and causes Ebola" or something.

This is ignorant beyond all sense and reason. What uses more energy? Printing out a piece of paper and pinning it to your wall, or having a second monitor all the time to display the same content in perpetuity?

Printing things arbitrarily is wasteful, but sometimes printing specific things is the most efficient method. Books don't use electricity when sitting around.

they announced this a few years ago.

it'd just a PDF with the no-print flag set.

unfortunately it means registering a whole new file type for the promise of a lack of functionality combined with increasing all your document file sizes by appending a huge WWF advert to the end of everything.

really quite a stupid idea.