July 15, 2002– Newsletter #189

Goodies to Go ™
July 15, 2002–Newsletter #189

This newsletter is part of the internet.com network.
http://www.internet.com
 

Goodies Thoughts – About Adobe’s PDF files

This week it’s all about Adobe
Acrobat (PDF) files. If you’ve done much surfing at all, I’m sure that you’ve
come across more than a few PDF files. I’d also be willing to bet that almost
everyone that reads this newsletter has at least Adobe Acrobat Reader installed
on their computer.

So, what exactly is a PDF file?

Well, PDF stands for Portable
Document Format … now there is a straight-forward descriptive name. The file
type is intended to be completely cross-platform, cross-browser,
cross-everything compatible.

The idea was to create a file type
that was easily portable between all types of environments. In order to make it
work, Adobe had to create a format that could easily be displayed both with and
without a browser. They also had to make it possible for anyone to be able to
view the documents. By creating Acrobat and Acrobat Reader, they made it
possible for both the designer and the end-user to get what they needed. The
designers would have Acrobat available to create PDF documents (where Adobe
would make their money) and Acrobat Reader available for free to the end-user
(this would create demand for their
Acrobat product).

So, do I need to buy Acrobat in order
to create PDF files?

No, not really. There are other
packages available that allow you to create a document and directly export it to
PDF format.

Pagemaker and QuarkXPress
are two of the most popular page layout packages that will export directly to
PDF.

However, if you need to take
advantage of all of the bells and whistles that Acrobat has available, you will
probably need to breakdown and get the full version. The full version will allow
you to set levels of security, manipulate bookmarks, add web links, import HTML
pages and other handy little features.

Now, while many of the features that
Adobe offers are very nice, they are not absolutely necessary. Unless you are
creating a professional document like an e-book, brochure or something along
those lines, you probably won’t have a need for all of the Acrobat extras. In
many cases, a simple design package like those mentioned above will give you
more than enough control over page layout and exporting to PDF.

So, what’s the big deal? What are the
benefits?

There are actually a few very key
benefits to the PDF format:

Portability – Like it says in the
name, portability is the cornerstone of the technology. Acrobat files have the
ability to be more easily viewed in more environments than any other file type.

Design Control – Unlike so many other
file type choices like HTML, PDF files will display the same in different
environments. You don’t have to worry about how it will look in Internet
Explorer 5.0 versus Netscape 4.72, for example.

Self-contained – PDF files have text,
images and font information embedded in the files themselves. This is a benefit
in two ways. First, being that images are embedded, the user doesn’t have to
worry about downloading and keeping track of images and graphics separately.
Secondly, since fonts are embedded in the files you don’t have to wonder whether
the end-user has a specific font installed on their machine.

Universally Accepted – While it is
possible to distribute almost any file type via the web, PDF files are the most
widely accepted. Since the Acrobat Reader is a free downloadable piece of
software, virtually anyone that wants to view a given PDF document has the
ability to do so. If, for example, you chose to distribute a document in
Microsoft Word format, you would be relying on each user owning a compatible
copy of Microsoft Word. While the odds may be with you, it is certainly no
guarantee that the end-user will be able to view your document.

So, what are the drawbacks?

Well, fortunately for Adobe, there
aren’t that many. The biggest drawback is the fact that it’s going to cost you a
nice chunk of change to get set-up. Odds are you are going to have to invest in
some sort of design software that exports to PDF format and/or get the full
version of Acrobat. Unfortunately, all of the low-cost and no-cost online
services that used to be available just a few years ago have faded away.

Security can also be a concern. While
PDF files do have a built-in security scheme, it is by no means fool-proof.
Acrobat allows you to place controls on printing, content editing, content
extraction, etc. You can also add password protection to any document as well.
Those are all great controls but there is no truly secure way to keep people
from saving to their hard drives a PDF document that you make available online.
Even though you may completely restrict a document, it is still quite easy to
save a file to the hard drive from the browser menu controls. So, don’t count on
any PDF that you place online to be "uncopyable". Like HTML and most any other
web file formats, PDF files can easily be saved and redistributed.

PDF’s are not highly interactive.
While they do have built-in support for simple form elements, they are not good
solutions for any highly complex information gathering. Not to mention, setting
up form elements in Acrobat can be quite cumbersome. The focus of PDF files is
more on the navigation and presentation of the document.

So, how do I use a PDF in my web?

That is actually quite easy. First,
you will want to make your users aware that you use PDF files and that they need
to have

Acrobat Reader installed on their computer. Secondly, you just link to the
file like you would link to any other page in your web:

  <A HREF="http://www.myWeb.com/myFile.pdf">

  Read my PDF file</A>

So, is PDF worth the effort?

That depends on what you want to do.
PDF files are great for things like brochures, printable forms, e-books and many
commercial applications. If you need complete control over how a document is
rendered and need that document to be easily saved and/or redistributed, then
Acrobat is probably a good solution. Otherwise, most other instances would best
be suited for other solutions like HTML, PHP or ASP.