pdf files dumb

If this isn't exactly what you wanted, please try our Search (there's a LOT of techy and non-techy stuff here about Linux, Unix, Mac OS X and just computers in general!):

Subject: Re: dumb pdf files
> 
> That's very helpful.  We've been using PDFs for a couple years to eliminate
> mailing stuff across the state.  The portability and the ease of creation
> from original documents has made it very handy.  That has worked fine for
> internal documents.  Your points are certainly worth noting when
> considering offering documents for use by an unknown audience.


I think you also need to consider the importance and urgency
of the information.  If the document in question contains
information on the sonnets of some obscure French poet, it
may not be a burden to require extra software to read it. 
Where I get really teed off is when technical articles are
presented in pdf or other formats that require third party
software.  If your Mac is barely running, and is crashing at
the slightest provocation, the last thing you need is to
have to run Acrobat to read about what might be causing your
problem.  Straight HTML can be read (not prettily, but
certainly accurately) with nothing more than telnet working-
no IE, no Netscape, and certainly no Acrobat.

There is also the issue of speed.  I may not care how long
it takes to download the French Poets page, but when I'm
stuck with a 14.4 modem because it's the only working piece
of junk available at 9:00 PM at a broken customer's site, 
and I need information from your technical site, I will not
be happy to see pdf as my only choice.

Another good general rule is that people shouldn't have to
download anything to view your site.  They may not have
space, they may not have time, or (again) there just may not
be a version that runs on their OS.

I had a funny (!) conversation recently with someone who
designs web pages.  He was showing off his home page, and I
noted that he made heavy use of Java.  I questioned that,
noting that people with 56K dialups would be frustrated by
the slowness.  He said that was exactly his intention,
because his company also sells DSL!  So the concept is that
his customers will be convinced to get a high speed
connection to properly view the pages this guy designs for
him.  I pointed out that this attitude doesn't do much for
the ultimate readers of his customer's pages, but he didn't
care..

So, it does depend on what kind of documents you are
presenting and whether you care if some people can't read
them or have difficulty.  I have no idea what kind of
documents you are putting out there or for what purposes,
but a "it's their problem" attitude may be appropriate- or
then again, it may not.  I certainly know it is not
appropriate for technical sites (yet it is done) and it's
probably not wise for any site trying to maximize their
exposure.


-- 
Tony Lawrence (tony@aplawrence.com)
SCO/Linux articles, help, book reviews, tests, 
job listings and more : 

Take Control of Screen Sharing in Leopard

Take Control of Permissions in Leopard

Jump to Comments

Many of the products and books I review are things I purchased for my own use. Some were given to me specifically for the purpose of reviewing them. I resell or can earn commissions from the sale of some of these items. Links within these pages may be affiliate links that pay me for referring you to them. That's mostly insignificant amounts of money; whenever it is not I have made my relationship plain. I also may own stock in companies mentioned here. If you have any question, please do feel free to contact me.

Specific links that take you to pages that allow you to purchase the item I reviewed are very likely to pay me a commission. Many of the books I review were given to me by the publishers specifically for the purpose of writing a review. These gifts and referral fees do not affect my opinions; I often give bad reviews anyway.

We use Google third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit our website. These companies may use information (not including your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, click here.