Appearance
What you need before you start
Printer's Friend is a web application. There is nothing to install on a computer, and no plugin or extension is required.
Browsers
| Supported | |
|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge, Brave | Current and previous major version |
| Safari | Current and previous major version, macOS and iPadOS |
| Firefox | Current and previous major version |
| Internet Explorer | Not supported |
The workspace needs JavaScript enabled and cookies allowed for your workspace domain. Third-party cookie blocking is fine.
Devices
| Surface | Recommended device |
|---|---|
| Workspace (quoting, orders, admin) | Laptop or desktop, 1280px wide or more |
| Production board | Laptop, or a tablet in landscape |
| Floor board | Wall-mounted TV or monitor, 1080p or better, driven by any small PC, stick or spare tablet |
| Operator stations | Tablet at the station, or a phone |
| Barcode scan and time clock | Any phone or tablet with a camera |
| Kiosk | iPad, mini through Pro, in a counter stand |
| Customer portal | Anything the customer has, phone included |
Nothing needs to be a high-end machine. The floor board and kiosk are both designed to run unattended all day on cheap hardware.
Network
- A normal broadband connection. The workspace is not bandwidth-hungry, but artwork uploads are, so a slow upstream connection makes proofing feel slow.
- If your shop has a static IP, you can allow-list the kiosk path at the network edge as an extra layer. The kiosk is rate limited either way. See shop floor hardware.
- Nothing needs a port opening or a VPN.
Accounts to have ready
You do not need these on day one, but setup goes faster if they are to hand:
| Account | Needed for | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| Stripe | Taking customer payments | Payments |
| Twilio | SMS to customers | Twilio SMS |
| Postmark or Resend | Transactional email from your own domain | Transactional email |
| Xero or QuickBooks | Pushing invoices to your ledger | Accounting |
| Australia Post | Real labels and tracking, AU shops | Shipping |
| Blanks supplier trade account | Live catalogue and stock | Supplier catalogues |
Information to gather
Have these written down before you start the installation guide. Finding them mid-setup is what turns an afternoon into a week.
- Your trading name, contact email and phone exactly as they should appear on an invoice.
- Your logo, ideally an SVG or a large transparent PNG.
- Your tax registration number and your tax rate.
- Your payment terms, for example "7 days from invoice".
- Your current price list, however it exists today: a spreadsheet, a printed sheet, or the numbers in your head.
- Your cost per garment for the blanks you use most, and your decoration costs per method at the quantities you actually run.
- The decoration methods you offer, and the real constraints on each: maximum colours, maximum print area, stitch limits.
- Your customer list as a CSV.
- The names, emails and roles of the staff who need a login, plus their labour rate if you want job costing to include labour.
Bring your worst-priced job
The fastest sanity check on a pricing setup is to re-quote a job you have already done and compare. Pick an awkward one: multi-position, mixed sizes, a club rate, a rush. If that comes out right, the everyday jobs will.