When I get to a topic a button appears that says: " Show a Printable Version "
Since the current page prints fine, what is that for? It only makes the page harder to read by removing the guide boxes.
I’ve seen this at other sites, so this is not a site-specific question.
Some people may still have a character printer. I guess you have encountered one. It’s sort of like a typewriter. At each position across the page it can print a single character or no character at all. Some can overstike and print two or more characters on top of each other. And some can underline. And that’s about it.
Maybe it’s so one doesn’t waste ink for the fancy colors.
Yes, it will print faster, and waste less ink on an inkjet by not having to fill in background colors.
Also, so they won’t come out in illegible gray-on-gray on your monochrome printer, though these pages will probably be OK.