About My Low-Bandwidth & Printer Friendly Pattern Layout

It’s 2024 and Low-Bandwidth is still a Concern

As someone who lives in a country where the average internet speed ranks 66th in the world, I’m all too familiar with the difficulties of downloading materials or keeping a decent enough connection to manage it!

To my mind, accessibility goes beyond meeting the needs of disabled folk – it also means trying to meet the needs of folks who are under-priviliged in other ways, and the internet is one area which is very much not equal.

Here’s how I’ve approached ensuring that folks on slow or intermittent connections can access my ePatterns and eBooks, and relatedly, how I’ve considered folks who prefer to print their materials.

Firstly, the file size of each purchasable PDF is listed on the product page. To me this is simply good nettiquette, but it’s not something we see as often as we used to – probably because many digital sellers (or their hosts/marketplaces) wrongly assume that everyone has better internet access now. (personally, we do now thankfully, even if we’re now only getting the ‘average’ speed in the country).

Secondly, I compress the images and resolution to a size that will still print clearly, but will be much easier to download than a 300dpi print-ready version.

Beyond the front and back covers, and additional images on the first page which show the Hat from different angles, no other images are used throughout the pattern – everything is text or chart, in greyscale only. This not only helps with reducing the file size, it also helps with printing (colour ink is far more costly, and not everyone has access to a colour printer) and also helps me meet the needs of colourblind and neurodivergent folk.

I see my patterns as educational materials – so many knitters have told me over the years that they learn something new each time they knit a pattern of mine, that I’ve been leaning into that more and more by providing tutorials and resources for my patterns, and providing talks, workshops and so on. However, providing additional resources by way of tutorials – photo or video – can greatly increase a file size, so my solution is a little different.

Those tutorials are all there for anyone who’s purchased a premium ePattern of mine to access, but instead of hugely increasing the page count and increasing the file size, every tutorial is included by way of a clickable URL – simply download the tutorial(s) you need, in your own time.

This also means that you only need to download the tutorial once – if you’ve knit another pattern of mine that includes one or more of the same tutorial (hint: they all include the Hat blocking tutorial!) then you don’t need to download everything, just the tutorials you don’t already have. Doing it this way means there aren’t excess pages for you to wade through, which can be even more frustrating if it’s duplicated information, and you don’t need to download large or unnecessary files.

And of course, reduced file sizes also mean they won’t bust your storage limit on your devices, or consume too much space (and energy) if you use the cloud for file storage.

 

Yes, Printers Still Exist

As much as I love my reMarkable (it was a pricey business purchase a few years back, but has made my work flow so, SO much better), I know that not everyone loves using knitting patterns on their electronic devices, and many can’t afford such devices.

And there are also folks like me, who need to hand-write notes for them to stick in their brains, who will most likely print a pattern unless their electronic device also comes with a digital pen and hand-writing option.

And so each of my patterns are tested for their printability. Knitters are advised to use the latest version of a reputable PDF reading software to ensure it prints correctly. On the rare occassion a pattern of mine won’t print it will be due to a software conflict with the printer – printing issues are always local – and I’m afraid there’s not much I can do about that.

Keeping pattern pages to a minimum and not using colour throughout the instructions is a huge help to folks who print their patterns – colour ink is expensive, and printing excess pages that are littered with images is more wasteful.

Each of the downloadable tutorials that accompany my premium patterns use black and white images throughout – the files are compressed to make them easy to download and take up less storage space on your device, but not compressed so much that you can’t see the details. They use high contrast yarns before converting them to greyscale, to help you see the details more clearly, even after printing.

The tutorials can be lengthy, as they’re designed to teach you new skills and help you gain confidence with a technique, but you only need print them once, and they can be re-used with other patterns.

I hope this helped explain how I’ve approached bandwidth, file storage and printing accessibility needs! If you’d like to try a sample pattern, you can download the Meret for free to see if my pattern writing style suits you 🙂

Woolly Wormhead

Woolly Wormhead is an internationally reknowned knit designer, specialising in Hats, technique and construction. Their patterns and techniques have been used by thousands of knitters worldwide. Join The Woolly Hat Society to be the first to learn of their latest projects and special offers!

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