Today I uploaded all test reports for the first batch of twenty test samples that began light fade testing in January, 2008. All twenty are pigmented inkjet systems, and one would expect them to be doing quite well in test so far. They are. With the exception of just a couple of samples, all products are on an equal footing and holding up very well at the 10 Megalux-hour exposure interval. As the samples undergo more light exposure, we should begin to see significant differences emerge. The purpose of making these test results available at this time is to give my website visitors a better sense of where AaI&A is headed as the testing expands.
If all goes well, AaI&A will eventually require a full-fledged database capability to help its membership search and sort through large quantities of information. In the meantime, I am using Excel’s “Save as web page” HTML authoring feature to create a basic summary list of test results. I realize that the html output is far from ideal but the advantage to this approach at the present time is a convenient way for me to maintain the hyperlinks between listed sample numbers and their corresponding test reports as the sample population grows and the test results get updated.
With only twenty samples in the summary list to date, the list is easy to browse. Just click on the sample numbers for the product combinations that you wish to examine in greater detail, and the PDF reports will be accessed. As the list grows, you will find that your web browser’s “find” feature is going to be an increasingly useful tool to quickly navigate the HTML page to specific items for printers, papers, and inks that are of interest. For example, hitting the “[command] F” keys in my MAC Safari browser opens an OS X “Spotlight” finder window that will directly search the specific html page. Other browsers no doubt have similar capability.
As I look over this list of twenty samples today, I foresee many member submitted test samples, more light fade units to keep pace with the sample testing, and a lot of hard work. I also see in this list the makings of a comprehensive AaI&A database for the growing population of test results. I hope this summary list works well for the AaI&A membership until such time that AaI&A can support stronger web development activity.
You can find the Excel generated list for the first twenty samples in test here: AaI&A light fade test results. I will be adding a formal link to the Summary Test Results list on the AaI&A homepage soon.
