The Washington Post, like several other newspaper sites, runs banner ads on their printer-formatted pages.
The purpose of having pages formatted for printing is, of course, to allow the readers to print out the article in question without having to also print out the masthead, navigation bars, links, etc. The printer-formatting allows readers to print the page without wasting time, paper or toner/ink.
Therein lies my gripe with the vertical banner ads on the WaPo p-f pages. The current crop of toner-gobbling banners includes ads from Best Buy and British Airways, both with white text on a dark blue background; an HP ad with white text on a dark green background; and a Microsoft ad with dark lettering on a dark orange-ish background. On letter sized paper, the ads print out as a 2" by 7" rectangle — 14 square inches of toner shot to hell. That rectangle also forces the text to flow down further, sometimes onto an otherwise unneeded extra page.
This is a case where — I can't believe I'm writing this — I'd actually prefer pop-up ads. They're annoying, but at least they don't suck up costly printer ink.
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