RE: Nielsen frags PDF with misinformative Alertbox... AGAIN!

Subject: RE: Nielsen frags PDF with misinformative Alertbox... AGAIN!
From: Chris Gooch <chris -dot- gooch -at- lightworkdesign -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 16:40:29 +0100



>The standard Acrobat tools, including zoom, are not displayed when I open
>this page in IE. The only way I can find to increase the size of the image
>is to use the IE Full-Page tool. Ironically, the Web site's own,
>customized Full-Page tool doesn't work in IE.

The document I gave a link to wasn't necessarily intended
to be served on the web; I gave it as an example of a pdf
doc that you could see - it was originally intended for download
with the package that it is describing, and was republished
on the web by someone other than the original author.

I'm not holding it up as a perfect design by the way; it's
far too "busy", deliberately so as it is meant to show off
all the features that the package supports.

It needs to be remembered that when you view a PDF via
a plug-in to a web browser, you don't necessarily get all
the functionality that the full acrobat reader supports, but
rather just what the web plugin supports - clearly the page
resizing is one such example, since the plugin can't control
the browser in this way.

>I misspoke. This hard-to-view format reminds me of those unfortunate PDF
>files created from scans of printed documents -- as opposed to properly
>distilled PDFs. In my subjective view, I find it much less legible than
>standard PDFs -- and certainly not a paragon of good design.


I'm afraid this is wrong; the pdf file was created using
pdftex, which generates pdf directly from LaTeX source,
and the fonts seem to be proper type1 scaleable ones to me.
It hasn't been distilled.

Try downloading the pdf from here;
http://www.tp4.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/SoftwareDocs/pdfsc/
(note there are two pdfs, one for screen and one
for print, which have been generated from the same LaTeX
source --- this is how things should always be done!).
Try the full size option when viewing the pdf without the
web browser getting in the way.

Please note that I have no connection to the author of this
doc, or the person who republished it on their web site;
I was simply responding to a question about whether good
pdf for screen viewing is possible - I think it is, with care.

If it isn't legible, you must have a pc with very low
screen resolution. Again, this is a case of knowing
your audience; I personally don't know anyone who
operates their pc at less than 1280 by 800, most
developers (who I write docs for) seem to use
1600 by 1200 or so. At higher resolutions like
this PDFs look ___way___ better than bitmap
fonts. This is why Apple are using PDF as an
integral layer of the 2d graphics system on
Mac OSX (i.e., if you use MacOSX, you're reading
this via the PDF scalable font technology).
As I reported a couple of months ago, this is something
to be aware of if you are wanting to serve
hyperlinked pdf on a web site that MacOSX
users will read, as the standard browser plug
in will not recognise hyperlinked pdf on this platform
(one step forward and another back from adobe,
sigh).

I agree with others who have said that Adobe don't
seem to support / push their own technology
properly, and it's a shame. Framemaker should
be able to produce better pdf easier, acrobat
should be more amenable to scripting solutions,
their help should be both more informative and
better designed (maybe they want to show how
not to do it), they should make a proper plugin
for OSX, etc.

Wow, two posts in a week; it must be the heat
getting to me (over 25 degrees c for 5 days now
which constitutes a heatwave in these parts)

HTH
Chris.

Christopher Gooch, Technical Author
LightWork Design, Sheffield, UK.
www.lightworkdesign.com
SIGGRAPH 2003...Booth 3431...San Diego, California...29-31 July 2003


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

NEED TO PUBLISH FRAMEMAKER CONTENT ONLINE? "Mustang" is a NEW single
sourcing tool for FrameMaker that lets you easily publish your content
online. No macro language required! http://www.ehelp.com/techwr-l3

Mercer University's online MS Program in Technical Communication Management:
Preparing leaders of tomorrow's technical communication organizations today.
See www.mercer.edu/mstco or write George Hayhoe at hayhoe_g -at- mercer -dot- edu -dot-

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as:
archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.



Follow-Ups:

Previous by Author: RE: Nielsen frags PDF with misinformative Alertbox... AGAIN!
Next by Author: RE: Help with Docbook
Previous by Thread: RE: Nielsen frags PDF with misinformative Alertbox... AGAIN!
Next by Thread: RE: Nielsen frags PDF with misinformative Alertbox... AGAIN!


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads