Flexible&Configurable Printers

Printer-friendly version

Deciding that your kiosk needs a printer is not enough, says Staffan Fällström, Product Manager for Zebra Technology’s kiosk printers. This is just where the door to possibilities opens. Today’s compact Zebra printers are so flexible in both configurations and settings that you can probably find an almost perfect setup to function optimally for your application – and most importantly for the users of your kiosk.
 
Standard Zebra features such as loop, retract or pull-detector can be set according to how your kiosk users interact with the application; kiosks with quick transactions may need to eject or retract a previous printout as soon as the next user comes, while others might need a long delay and a warning on the screen to avoid users walking away without an important document. Privacy can be maximised by first presenting a cover page which, if taken, then allows the next page with sensitive information to be quickly printed from memory. However, if a page is forgotten, the printer may be set to retract it into an internal waste basket and the following pages deleted from the print queue. Pages not wanted are not even printed, meaning less paper wasted and fewer visits to empty the waste bin or replace paper rolls. For reasons such as brand exposure, etc., the ejected length of the printout can be adjusted to show the bottom of the print with a logo on it.

When designing the printout itself, there are few limitations, as the printer allows printing of virtually anything the operating system allows for. Even if using simple text mode (ESC commands) kiosk deployers will find vast options in preloaded fonts, graphics, printing in bold, italic, reverse, multiple widths and heights, etc. Barcodes, logos or pictures can be rotated to portrait or landscape as desired.