Today we’re very pleased to introduce the Tabblo Print Toolkit, a set of technology components that produce great-looking printed pages from existing web content.

When we talk to people about their experiences printing web pages, we hear a lot of frustration. They don’t get the content they want, it doesn’t fit well on the page, space is poorly used, and so on. When people think of printing the web, they think of waste and ugliness. It doesn’t have to be that way.

The Tabblo Print Toolkit gives web developers a simple way to extract content from their pages, and have it reformatted to print beautifully. Our servers lay out your HTML using professionally-designed templates to give your users PDF files that look great.

We think TPT can dramatically improve the printed web. From our experience creating books and posters at Tabblo.com, we know that just because content starts on the web, doesn’t mean it can’t be beautiful on paper.

Today’s release is a first beta, but already produces impressively rendered pages from your existing HTML. Give the Tabblo Print Toolkit a try, and let us know what you think of the new world of the printed web.

A couple of weeks ago, HP unveiled its “Print 2.0” strategy and gave more detail about how publishers can take advantage of the Tabblo Print Toolkit, which will be introduced at the end of June. While the announcement received wide press attention (see the coverage below), we’d like to go into a little more depth about what “Print 2.0” means and why Web publishers should care about it.

In the last few years there has been a huge leap forward from presenting static web pages to allowing consumers to personalize when, where and how they consume content. As I traverse the web, I can now choose which information I want (the latest entry from a favorite blog), how I want it presented (an RSS feed), and a device for reading it (a smart phone). But print on the web hasn’t kept pace with this innovation, and it limits what I can do with the huge explosion of valuable content that’s now available to print on demand. HP thinks people are ready for a better solution.

The bottom line is that the print experience on the Web right now doesn’t live up the expectations I, as a typical consumer of the Web, have for interacting with content. It’s hobbled by the inability to select the exact content I want, to display it as I see fit, and to minimize waste. A lack of printing options also limits my ability to fully enjoy the creative investments I’ve made using the many tools available on the Web and my own original digital content.

I think of the printed page as a device, like my smart phone, but one with a unique combination of features. It’s portable, cheap, replicable, shareable, replaceable, and doesn’t require a power source or any type of connection. I want to be able to print a personalized travel guide that only features content and maps for the places I’m planning to visit (a step forward from the pages I ripped out of my Let’s Go Europe books when backpacking in college). I want to print product specs and pricing information so I can be a more informed shopper. I want to create a cookbook with recipes from my favorite cooking blog so my laptop screen isn’t splattered with tomato sauce.

Print can also be much more than just another convenient format for consuming content—it can be an integral part of the creation itself. I love the immediacy of emailing my digital pictures, but I also love that the Web makes it technically possible and cost efficient to create my own physical scrapbook pages, posters, books, and other products that haven’t even been thought up yet. The Web plus print opens up a whole world of creative possibility to a much broader group of people than ever before.

At HP, we’re excited about leading the charge into the future of the printable web with the Tabblo Print Toolkit and we hope you are too. Take a look at what the press has to say:

San Jose Mercury News
HP to unveil improved Web printing capability
By Therese Poletti

PC Magazine
Do Blogs Need a ‘Print’ Button? At HP, They Do
Mark Hachman
May 30, 2007

Bloomberg
Hewlett-Packard Will Offer Printing Kit for Web-Site Content
May 30, 2007
By Connie Guglielmo

Forbes.com
HP’s Web Plan
By Rachel Rosmarin
May 30, 2007

The New York Times (also appeared on CNet)
Hewlett-Packard Stakes a Claim as an Information Manager
By Claudia H. Deutsch
May 30, 2007