Not even the social behemoth that is Facebook seems to be slowing down high school students' desire to permanently capture memories of their glory days through the old standby, the yearbook.

At least, it's an old standby in that it's printed on paper and still has rows of smiling -- well, mostly smiling -- faces.

But that's where the comparison ends to the yearbooks of yesteryear.

Several York County yearbook advisers say the newest versions have kept up in sales by offering features such as full-color pages, splashy designs like those you'd see in a magazine, and even digital touches that weren't even invented a few years ago.

"I think it has a lot of potential," Red Lion senior Alicia Dettinger said of the technology and design changes. Alicia has been on the yearbook staff throughout high school.

That might be why the desire for a printed yearbook hasn't dwindled, advisers and students said, despite the popularity of keeping in touch with classmates through social media.

"Once people start getting them, everyone who doesn't have one wants one," Alicia said.

Trendkeepers: At Red Lion, the 300-plus page yearbook for the 1,600-plus student body has the look of a glossy fashion magazine.

Photoshop effects are used to make colors pop. And a new addition, QR coding, is being used in this year's $70 yearbook.

The QR code allows a smartphone to scan a barcode-like image that opens up a web page, video or image on the phone.

Red Lion is using it to include video of sporting events, among other ideas.

"You have to keep up with the times," said Megan

Axe, co-adviser of the yearbook with Allyson Ayres.

Red Lion has sold about 1,000 copies in advance sales, right around its norm. Seniors in particular want one as part of the gotta-have-it 12th-grade collectibles.

"The yearbook is the main thing. It's the diploma, the cap and gown, and a yearbook," Axe said.

Officials at Susquehannock and Northeastern high schools also said they've had strong sales in recent years.

Northeastern adviser Beth Ann Brown said they use targeted marketing to help sales, such as sending out a postcard to students telling them what pages they'll be featured on in the yearbook.

And for the first time, Northeastern's yearbook, which has placed in national yearbook competitions, will include a digital disc with additional photos and interviews.

Worth it? Dover Area High School's Doug Hoover has been advising the yearbook staff for 20 years. He said he noticed a dip in sales about three years ago that may have been tied to more students using social media to share photos and keep in touch.

But sales have been steady since, selling about 500 books with a student body around 1,000. Like Red Lion, Dover is using QR codes and is full color; Hoover laughed as he recalled the first time he helped with yearbook 20 years ago -- they had just begun using computers.

The price, at $53, is less than some others in York County, but Hoover does wonder if there's a tipping point for how much students can pay, even if many schools offer a payment plan.

Yearbooks have to mostly pay for themselves since most districts don't give the staff funding. Selling ads to parents helps keep costs down somewhat, advisers said.

Susquehannock yearbook adviser Sheila Bedell said her school hasn't yet adopted some of the trends, such as full color or QR codes, as it could force them to raise the price above $55.

"You have to weigh if it's cost effective," said Bedell, an adviser for 17 years. "We're easing into things slowly."

'An American cultural thing': So is having a printed yearbook still worth it all, from the cost to the hours of design work?

The desire for "having their friends sign it, that doesn't go away," Hoover said.

"With yearbook, I just think it's a very American cultural thing for a student to pass through high school with their yearbook," said yearbook expert Ed Patrick.

Patrick is a longtime sales representative for Balfour, one of the largest yearbook production companies in the country, which works with several York County schools.

Sales don't match up with decades past, he admitted, but they are still strong.

"Sure, it's not what it used to be. (At one time,) yearbook was the only thing a student could use to remember," those days, he said.

Shayla Marshall, a Red Lion senior, said yearbooks are always going to be that tangible, physical keepsake that's different from anything online.

"Those are things you can't get on Facebook," Shayla said.

-- Reach Andrew Shaw at 505-5431 or ashaw@yorkdispatch.com, or on Twitter @ydblogwork.com.