Should we have more print-first slide template options?

[cmajel]

Adding notes from a comment made by @sawtoothwave

i have an idea :lightbulb: for the design lab, interested in feedback - the default 18F slide deck template is very screen-first - perhaps adding some alternate print-friendly layouts for title/subtitle slides so that if decks are converted into leave-behinds for partners who are likely to consume them as PDFs or printouts, we can easily switch all slides to print-friendly versions that don’t have colored backgrounds?

A few initial questions to answer:

• What are examples of these kinds of leave-behinds 18F has produced in the past?
• How often does this use case come up?
• Is the goal to make it easy to convert an existing presentation into a more print-friendly format (eg, switch to light backgrounds / low ink options)?
• Is the goal to provide more report-like / slide-doc style layouts for leave behinds? For example, more editorial layouts like the ones found in this presentation.
• How should this interact with the existing presentation template? Does it live inside of it, or is it a separate entity?

[sawtoothwave]

Thanks Christine! My thoughts in response to your questions:

• What are examples of these kinds of leave-behinds 18F has produced in the past? -- I am working on one right now that prompted it, but I'm not sure how often we do this.
• How often does this use case come up? -- As per above, not entirely sure, but I would think that in any case where we're expecting our work to function as an artifact, I wouldn't mind including a print-friendly version as well (or instead) of the original PDF.
• Is the goal to make it easy to convert an existing presentation into a more print-friendly format (eg, switch to light backgrounds / low ink options)? -- Exactly! I was imagining essentially a print-friendly version of every layout that currently has a colored background.
• Is the goal to provide more report-like / slide-doc style layouts for leave behinds? For example, more editorial layouts like the ones found in this presentation. -- In this case, I'm using Slides to modify a deck originally used in a workshop into an artifact for the partner team to have access to and consult in the future. I could have put the whole thing together as a report rather than a slide deck, but a) I used the original slide deck as a jumping-off point, and b) even though it's starting to get a little more report-y, I think using Slides helps keep the length reasonably constrained and keep it digestible instead of just a huge pile of text. This might be an edge case, admittedly.
• How should this interact with the existing presentation template? Does it live inside of it, or is it a separate entity? -- Great question. As per above, I thought it would be part of the original layout, but if was a new theme that copied the original theme's available layouts and you could convert the whole thing to print-friendly by selecting a new theme, that would actually be way better and more powerful - maybe even one click to print-friendly-ize the whole presentation at once...