Ten Years of PDF

TEN YEARS OF PDF
MASTERS OF PDF
SECURITY & ACCESSIBILITY
PRINT, DESIGN & CREATION
USING ACROBAT/BEST PRACTICE
THE FUTURE OF PDF

Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX ADVERTISEMENT TEN YEARS OF PDF DESIGN & CREATION

•Contents • Adobe’s Gary Cosimini reflects on ‘First • The PDF/X Solution
•Ten years of PDF Acrobat PDF Decade
• A first look at Adobe Reader 6
•Masters of PDF • PDF Makes Computerworld’s top 35
list • PDF as necessary evil
•Security & accessibility
• The past, present and future of PDF • The Making of Good PDFs
•Design & creation
• Giving PDF a Chance – Really • 100 Portable Historical Educational
•Acrobat best practice
��
��
• Bill Gates biographer suggests Microsoft ‘Milestone Documents’

•Future of PDF
ceded key format victory to Adobe PDF
ACROBAT BEST PRACTICE
• Top 25 Best-selling Adobe Acrobat/PDF
products for 2002 • Helping Reader Orientation
MASTERS OF PDF • PDF usability put to the test

��
• Exploring Full Screen mode
�� • Max Wyss
�� • John Warnock • Turning paper into searchable PDFs
��
�
�� • Aandi Inston • Opening Acrobat Faster II
��
• Ted Padova
�� FUTURE OF PDF
�� • Pattie Belle Hastings
• Planet PDF takes first look at Acrobat 6
��
SECURITY & ACCESSIBILITY
�� • Planet PDF’s take on Acrobat 6.0
��
• Duff Johnson offers strategic review of
�� • The first thoughts on Acrobat 6:
�� PDF accessibility
Leonard Rosenthol
• ElcomSoft found *Not Guilty* on
DMCA charges • Digital memory loss
www.activePDF.com • PDF Sniper Letter More Revealing Than • Acrobat Expectations: Chizen Bets the
PAGE 2 of 71 Intended Farm on PDF Cash Cow
Copyright © 1997-2017 Foxit Corporation | All Rights Reserved | www.planetpdf.com | Planet PDF - a World of Adobe Acrobat and PDF Resources.
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Business Development Director of Adobe’s did you first learn about Acrobat, what
Creative Professional Product Group, about it appealed to you as someone with
•Contents TEN YEARS OF PDF
also is the person from whom I first heard a publishing background – why were you
•Ten years of PDF about a unique software product code- so interested in it that you left a job with
•Masters of PDF named “Carousel.” We recently linked up the Times?
ADOBE’S GARY COSIMINI
with him to reflect on his career-changing
•Security & accessibility REFLECTS ON ‘FIRST ACROBAT
interest in Acrobat and PDF, and to trace
•Design & creation PDF DECADE
some of the highlights of the product and
•Acrobat best practice Will give keynote at DigiPub Solutions’ PDF format’s soon-to-be 10-year history (it was
Conference in June introduced in New York on June 15, 1993).
•Future of PDF
By Kurt Foss, Planet PDF Editor
PLANET PDF:
EDITOR’S NOTE: GARY COSIMINI:
Gary, thanks for agreeing to talk with
Planet PDF is a founding co-spon- “Actually, the betting line at the time was
Planet PDF about your work at Adobe
sor of the PDF Conference that I’d join Apple!
Systems in general and, in particular, the
(www.pdfconference.com), developed and I was introduced to Acrobat by Wes
first decade of Adobe Acrobat and PDF.
hosted by DigiPub Solutions Corp., and we Lem, this great guy from Adobe’s New
Let’s back up the tape up to a point before
were delighted to learn recently that Gary York office. He came by one day really
the June 1993 public introduction of a
Cosimini of Adobe Systems, Inc. will be excited and said I had to see this demo.
product-in-development previously known
the keynote speaker for the June 2-4 event Adobe knew me because I was an early
by its “Carousel” codename.
in Bethesda, MD. In the past, this event PostScript enthusiast. While working at
has had a significant focus on government We knew you in a previous life as the very The Times, I tracked Adobe’s innovations
and enterprise uses and users. For the technology savvy Senior Art Director for closely and implemented a lot of their
upcoming event, they’ve added a track The New York Times, someone whose technologies in ways that later became
for creative professionals. With Cosimini’s knowledge and experience was widely standard practice. We were among the
publishing background – prior to joining respected within the newspaper industry. first users of Illustrator and Photoshop, and
Adobe, he was the Senior Art Director Some certainly were surprised when you created workflow and automation tools
for The New York Times – and long-term eventually resigned that position to work based upon them for mapping, charting and
Acrobat/PDF involvement and interest, for Adobe, especially as a point person for photography.
he’s a perfect choice to help commemo- a new and unproven technology we’ve
rate ‘The First Acrobat/PDF Decade.’ come to know as Acrobat and PDF. Can The product Wes showed me was a
Cosimini, still based in New York as the you tell us how that situation evolved: How rudimentary document viewer and had a
PAGE 3 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX splash screen which said ‘New Technology,’ The application of this technology for customers and developers, and to catalyze
not Carousel. It must have been 1991, transmitting finished documents was change in the entire industry. PDF had the
•Contents
before laptops, and he had to install it on obvious! At the time we were making potential to transform the way literally
•Ten years of PDF my computer. It was really, really interest- photostats of pages to distribute by everyone communicates and does their
•Masters of PDF ing, so naturally I poked into some of the airfreight overseas and scanning pages at work.
files after the demo. This is cool, I thought: high resolution to ‘fax’ them by satellite or
it’s PostScript for viewing. It had a lot of microwave for printing. If making digital
•Design & creation the characteristics of PostScript, but was pages could be as simple as converting a
•Acrobat best practice declarative like Illustrator rather than in- PostScript file, everyone would save a lot
terpretive, which is good for efficiency, and of money and all that bandwidth could be
•Future of PDF
had a clear representation of the notion of put to better use.
pages and fonts and images. And a Cross
The trouble was that very few people
Reference Table allowed rapid access to all
understood the position of PostScript in
the file’s components. What a great idea!
the manufacturing chain. I thought Adobe So on January 1, 1992, I made a fateful
would need someone to explain this to New Year’s resolution – to ask Adobe
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 4 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX for a job representing Acrobat. Because of Sales, who taught me just enough about and when there were several competing
so many of the industry decision makers the software business to get by. My job products?
•Contents
essential for Acrobat to succeed came to was to wear a suit, push the mouse, and
•Ten years of PDF COSIMINI:
work every morning in Manhattan, my one create eggs without chickens; that’s what
“In addition to defining features for
•Masters of PDF condition was that I work from a New Business Development is. My assignment
Acrobat and to PDF, creating a business
York base.” was to identify leverage points for Acrobat,
•Security & accessibility model and value proposition were the
and then craft and implement programs to
•Design & creation PLANET PDF: hardest parts of developing the product. At
capture these opportunities.”
What was your first job title and role? one point in negotiations with a New York
PLANET PDF: banking firm, we were told that Acrobat
COSIMINI:
•Future of PDF What was your expectation for Acrobat was not worth more than a screen saver:
“The first day I reported to duty in
and PDF in 1993? ouch. Another time, I was actually booed
Mountain View was in May 1992 – the
by an audience at the Boston Computer
same day [Adobe co-founder and former COSIMINI:
Society because the Common Ground
CEO] Chuck Geschke was kidnapped. I “We all shared John Warnock’s vision and
demo guy had to run to the phone and call
was sitting in a office not 100 feet away, but were on the same wavelength: We thought
out of the line of sight, from the parking it would take five years before anyone ADVERTISEMENT
lot where it took place. Chuck impressed recognized how useful this technology
everyone with his fortitude and depth of could be, and another five before the
character by addressing his employees in whole world took it for granted. If we
person the day after he was freed. Adobe achieved that timetable, we’d feel we had
grew up a lot that year; I think it became been successful.
more serious and committed to doing
This was, of course, in the days before
something important. Perhaps Acrobat
mid-quarterly updates for analysts! Wall
provided us with a type of mission, and
Street now expects earth-shattering news
John and Chuck supplied the imagination
every 45 days.”
and leadership.
PLANET PDF:
My job title at Adobe – Business
Were you surprised by the less-than-enthu-
Development Manager – was something
siastic adoption of Acrobat 1.0, back when
they found in an HR manual. I reported to
Reader was *not* a free product, when
Clint Nagy, Adobe’s original Vice President
PAGE 5 of 71 the Distiller for the Network *was* free
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX tech support in the middle of a demo, and of course, were the keys to Acrobat’s So we had LOTS of animated arguments.
I smiled! Actually, I think they were most ultimate dominance. In the end, the opinion which converted
•Contents
upset that I didn’t bring any Frisbees or me came from the graphic arts students of
•Ten years of PDF When you think back, our real competitors
hats. We did pretty good presentations, KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology in
were overnight delivery and the fax
•Masters of PDF but had lots to learn about marketing. Stockholm where I was invited to speak.
machine.
Swedes are very interested in fairness.
•Security & accessibility Our two competitors, Replica and
The free viewer was a philosophical They told me, ‘You don’t have to pay
•Design & creation Common Ground, had free viewers with
challenge. How do make money by giving for your eyes to read.’ A very European
very small footprints; one could even
•Acrobat best practice software away? This was a long time ago, argument. You can’t disagree with the
embed the viewer in a document, which
remember. You couldn’t even download reasoning. Eventually we came to the
•Future of PDF was a perfectly idiotic idea if you think
Acrobat because the connections – AOL, correct conclusion: Charge for the razors,
about it. But they both took shortcuts with
Compuserve and Prodigy – were slow and but give away the blades!”
fonts and couldn’t get them to work cross-
unreliable; floppies, CDs and pre-installs
platform. Fonts, and the PDF file format Part 2 on Planet PDF ...
were the only viable options. Computers
did not yet come with CD players built-in.
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 6 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX PDF MAKES COMPUTERWORLD’S complex formatting across multiple sented a combined past, present and future
•Contents TOP 35 LIST platforms, irrespective of the viewing of PDF. Sullivan’s journey from the cave
By Kurt Foss, Planet PDF Editor machine’s specific configuration and avail- to the present PDF-enabled office was an
•Ten years of PDF able font library. Adobe’s timing was good, affectionate tribute to a technology we
Computerworld celebrates 35 years of
•Masters of PDF and PDF became an instant success; today didn’t know we needed until we had it...
covering the technology industry with a
it’s the worldwide standard for document
•Security & accessibility special anniversary issue, featuring articles De Abrew began with an early 1990’s
distribution over the Web.”
•Design & creation that look back at important developments promotional clip from Adobe and took us,
in tools and at technology’s now-vital role Calling PDF an “instant success” seems Matrix-style, to a variety of points in the
•Acrobat best practice in business. debateable – the first couple versions of future:
•Future of PDF Acrobat didn’t exactly take the world by
Among the special “35 Years of 1. Near Future (1-2 years)
storm, as memory serves. How many $50
Technology” coverage is the publication’s
copies of Acrobat Reader 1.0 did Adobe 2. Medium Future (3-5 years)
attempt to find “the 35 most important
sell?
advances in corporate IT.” The top five 3. Distant Future (5-99 years)
“technologies that shaped the industry,” But there’s no debate that Acrobat and
In the near future, De Abrew predicts a
according to Computerworld, are: PDF have found their place – and/or
domino effect whereby smaller companies
that users have discovered in increasing
Dynamic RAM will follow the lead of larger firms in the
numbers the varied, diverse applications
use and acceptance of PDF. Also that the
• Graphical User Interface – during the last three product releases. It’s
Adobe marketing machine, coupled with
• Internetworking nice to see Computerworld acknowledge
continued third party support for PDF,
it.
• Microprocessors will cement Acrobat as a truly ubiquitous
• Electronic Spreadsheets application.
THE PAST, PRESENT AND
At the other end of the list, sandwiched FUTURE OF PDF De Abrew sees a refining of print standards
between Linux at #32 and Storage- at Open Publish such as PDFX, increased electronic
area Networks at #34, is the Portable delivery of tailored information, greater
By Craig Kirkwood
Document Format. Computerworld uptake of PDF-based online forms and
explains its #33 selection: Among the notable presentations at Open more use of annotation tools such as
Publish this year was a double-act with PageSeeder - either within Acrobat or as
“Adobe Systems Inc. created this electronic
activePDF’s Tim Sullivan and BinaryThing third party tools.
document in 1993 as a way to preserve
CEO Karl De Abrew who together pre-
PAGE 7 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Down the track somewhat, De Abrew sees document exchange and archiving in the and sizes then something more flexible is
an “Acrobat-like product” (not necessarily wake of improved screen technologies required. This is the problem that reflow
•Contents
Acrobat itself) becoming as pervasive and accessibility. Finally, we could see a based on content tagging has attempted
•Ten years of PDF as MS Office and that PDF creation will reduction in paper use (decades after it to solve with PDF but right now, these
•Masters of PDF eventually be free of charge (a suggestion was first mooted) through acceptance tags are only created with MS Word or
which was met with a resounding “yes” of digital signatures and validity of the a dedicated application such as Adobe
from the delegates present) given the electronic document. FrameMaker.
•Design & creation already widespread existence of tools such
Beyond the five year mark, De Abrew sees De Abrew suggests that another player
•Acrobat best practice as Ghostscript.
the move from paper and ink to digital such as Microsoft may release a PDF
•Future of PDF Paperless at last paper and digital ink with PDF being used alternative into MS Office although
as ‘digital paper’. “Faxing, photocopying he acknowledges that Acrobat has a
Significantly, De Abrew’s predictions
and even printing may finally die once reasonable head start. “A start-up may
for the mid-term future include greater
users experience real improvements in develop a format that has a greater lean
on-screen use of PDF for review,
computer usability and screen readability” towards Web-based distribution” says De
said De Abrew. “Keeping PDFs on Abrew, “but PDF is becoming so ingrained
ADVERTISEMENT
workstations will, over time, improve that it will surely be around for a while
�� workplace efficiency and technological

improvements will eventually make digital
yet.” Perhaps it will become the legacy
format of the next 10-20 years...
�� paper preferable to paper.”

�
Where to from here?
Future proofing De Abrew quotes Acrobat Bible author
Unlike XML, PDF is based around a and regular Planet PDF contributor, Ted
page metaphor. Thus while it is well Padova: “In the year 2012 Adobe Acrobat
suited to the task of moving from will see more than 50 million installed
paper to electronic communication, it users.” Says Padova “The Acrobat Reader
is not necessarily the most appropriate Software will be installed on over 1 billion
�� technology to move beyond that point. computers and the Reader will be launched
��
worldwide more than 100 billion times a
Having a fixed “form factor” is ideal where
year.
the form itself is constrained but if the
PAGE 8 of 71 �� output includes a range of media types
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX “Adobe Acrobat version 14.05 will be feature(s) or benefit(s) to highlight? To was *not* developed to grab *your* (or
launched by users as near as Sydney’ Star take it a step further, given that so much my) attention.
•Contents
City Casino (where Open Publish was communication these days is non-text-
•Ten years of PDF The highlighted attribute featured is “plat-
held) and as far away as the planet Mars based, how would you convey and support
form compatibility,” with a headline on one
•Masters of PDF by US and Russian Astronauts. The next that same message visually (assuming,
page of the spread directly beneath the
generation of desktop printers will all be for the sake of discussion, print-based
•Security & accessibility smallish Adobe “Block A” logo:
based on PDF replacing an old language communication)?
•Design & creation people used to call PostScript. Adobe’s Windows.
Clearly the opportunities and options
•Acrobat best practice PDF development utilities will enable users Mac OS.
are plentiful, some more likely to prove
to dynamically create, edit, and modify Palm.
•Future of PDF effective than others – depending in part
documents designed for imaging, office Yes, we can
on the type of audience you’re trying to
use, Web pages and eBooks.” all get along.
reach and what you might know in advance
about their aptitude for and environment The “fine print” beneath it adds the key
GIVING PDF A CHANCE – REALLY
in which they utilize technologies such as phrase “Platform Compatibility” along with
Peaceniks for PDF Acrobat and PDF. the following brief description:
One example appears in the August 5, “Easily and reliably exchange, open and
If you’ve ever tried to explain the primary 2002 issue of The New Yorker magazine print documents, presentations and
use(s) and virtue(s) of PDF to a new or (and probably in a number of others) – a proposals created on any platform, in any
non-user of Acrobat, you understand two-page ad spread across the inside cover program. Really. Adobe Acrobat. Create an
Adobe’s marketing challenge. There’s and opening page of the weekly magazine. Adobe PDF and do more with your docu-
so *much* to say, but so little time to I must confess to some personal surprise ments.”
say it. That is, unless someone is already at the approach taken, which is not to
Last on the page comes the slogan “Adobe
interested, they’re only going to give you suggest it won’t achieve its goal. You can be
Acrobat 5.0 – Tools for the New Work.”
a brief window of opportunity to explain sure a lot of thought and money went into
(Oddly enough, the file format is more of
why they should be – or why *you* believe developing this marketing effort by folks
the ad’s focus than Adobe’s commercial
they should be – interested. who know a lot more about their particular
Acrobat software.)
line of work than some of us in the bleach-
If you had to develop a promotional
ers. Still, we get to express our thoughts, The left page of the two-page ad contains
campaign for Acrobat, for example, how
keeping in mind that if you’re already a the primary visual component: a color
would you decide on which attribute(s),
serious Acrobat/PDF user, this message photographic illustration of what can best
PAGE 9 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX be described as a political-type button For anyone who isn’t yet a convert, here’s
seemingly pinned on a pair of blue-denim another modified slogan from the same
•Contents
jeans (on the back pocket?). The image on era: “Give PDF a Chance.” (Or, in keeping
•Ten years of PDF with the main textual portion of the ad,
the button is a reddish hand giving the two-
•Masters of PDF fingered “Peace” sign, with the overprinted perhaps “Give Adobe PDF a Chance?”) In
other words, try it and see what it can do
•Security & accessibility words: “PDF NOW” across the lower half
– on one or many platforms. You might be
•Design & creation of the button’s face.
pleasantly surprised.
•Acrobat best practice If you don’t have access to The New
One other thing: the *last* place I’d pin
•Future of PDF Yorker and haven’t seen this ad – emphasis on “sharp pointed thing” – such
elsewhere, I apologize for the simplistic a button is the backside of my pants. Not Earlier this week the Times coverage
representation. But I hope you can compatible. Really. veered from the blow-by-blow, inside-
comprehend the general concept. Granted, the-courtroom proceedings – nine states
“platform compatibility” doesn’t exactly BILL GATES BIOGRAPHER currently are seeking greater sanctions
lend itself to a lot of quick-to-comprehend SUGGESTS MICROSOFT HAS against Microsoft than were levied and
images. That said, somehow this particular CEDED KEY FORMAT VICTORY accepted by the U.S. Department of Justice
choice doesn’t quite work for me – it TO ADOBE PDF (DOJ) and other involved states – to look
Had proposed direct competition in infa- at a seemingly noteworthy consequence of
conjures up a different environment than
mous 1995 ‘Tidal Wave’ memo the prolonged legal wrangling.
the workplace, and a different set of
issues than getting computers to exchange By Kurt Foss, Planet PDF Editor Free-lance technology writer Paul
documents. Likewise, “PDF Now” doesn’t Andrews, author of “How the Web Was
The lingering Microsoft antitrust case is a
quite click for me as a call to action. Won: How Bill Gates and His Internet
major technology news story pretty much
Idealists Transformed the Microsoft
everywhere, but certainly nowhere more
Anyway, as I said earlier, this ad isn’t aimed Empire” and co-author of “Gates: How
than in Seattle, Washington, the metropoli-
at those of us who are already believers. Microsoft’s Mogul Reinvented an Industry-
tan home for the software goliath based in
For us, “PDF Now” *is* the right mantra And Made Himself the Richest Man in
Redmond. The Seattle Times newspaper
– we understand its myriad possibilities. America” [shown at right] suggests in his
has been providing special, extensive
We all get along with Acrobat/PDF as a Seattle Times business and technology
coverage of the trial.
viable solution for many kinds of workplace column that Microsoft failed in its mission
PAGE 10 of 71 problems and situations.
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX to derail Adobe Acrobat and PDF in favor importance as paid content expands on the AOL and Novell and yada yada yada. The
of an Internet standard format of its own. Web.” truth is that Microsoft has also benefitted
•Contents
from inept competition, and where its foes
•Ten years of PDF In an April 1 Times column titled ‘Microsoft On his personal Web site – a Weblog
have been as clever and persistent as the
can’t topple Adobe Acrobat,’ Andrews named “The Paul Wall” – Andrews plugs
•Masters of PDF Boys from Redmond, they’ve often man-
surmises that contrary to its once-stated the column, adding:
aged to prevail.”
•Security & accessibility intent, “Microsoft has all but ceded a
“Adobe’s success in the face of Bill Gates’
•Design & creation significant Internet function to Adobe
clear 1995 directive to crush Acrobat
Systems.” Due to an allegedly failed
•Acrobat best practice has largely gone unremarked upon. Yet
Microsoft strategy, Andrews concludes
it occurred to me the other day as I
•Future of PDF that “Adobe Acrobat and its familiar .PDF
downloaded my umpteenth .pdf file that
(portable document format) have become
somehow the Evil Empire had let one get
the de facto standard for distributing and Andrews cites the now infamous “Internet
away. As the antitrust debacle yawns on,
displaying richly formatted documents over Tidal Wave” memo – Bill Gates’ once-
everywhere else you will read about how
the Internet - a function that may grow in confidential 1995 directive to Microsoft
Microsoft victimized Palm and Linux and
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 11 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX executive staff imploring that the company “The limitations of HTML make it posed to be a combination of extended
needed to make the Internet (and impossible to create forms or other metafiles and Word but these plans are
•Contents
Netscape) its primary focus – as evidence documents with rich layout and PDF has inadequate.”
•Ten years of PDF that Adobe, its Acrobat software and become the standard alternative,” Gates
Andrews notes in his recent Times’ article
•Masters of PDF PDF were among the companies and wrote some seven years ago. “For now,
that Microsoft’s long, still-underway
technologies poised to cause competitive Acrobat files are really only useful if you
•Security & accessibility efforts to defend itself against allegations
problems for Microsoft’s OS and software print them out, but Adobe is investing
•Design & creation of monopolistic practices have certainly
products. And which therefore needed to heavily in this technology and we may see
worked to Adobe’s benefit, providing the
•Acrobat best practice become targets for Microsoft. that change soon.”
San Jose-based company time to focus on
•Future of PDF In perhaps his most telling comment, Gates its own strategic efforts to establish PDF
underlines the importance of the mission as a de facto standard while occupying
to his management team in emphasizing Microsoft’s financial and logistical forces
that “once a format gets established, it is elsewhere. [Adobe faced a different chal-
extremely difficult for another format to lenge and challenger in 1998 when rival
come along and become equally popular.” Quark attempted a hostile – and ultimately
In Gates’ nine-page Tidal Wave memo
[Several plaintiffs in the ongoing antitrust unsuccessful – takeover.]
– that has since become Government
trial might argue that it helps significantly
Exhibit 20 in US v. Microsoft, filed in 1998,
to have an industry-dominant operating
available for download in PDF from the
system to lessen the difficulty.]
DOJ’s Web site – you can sense the dire
situation the co-founder foresaw for his Accordingly, among the topical ‘action
company if it missed becoming a major items’ on Gates 1995 shortlist was one
Internet player. He admits spending some related to file formats, which includes the
10 hours browsing the 1995-era World passage:
Wide Web, only to report that he’d found “We need to decide how we are going to
“almost no Microsoft file formats.” compete with Acrobat and QuickTime Viewed from a distance, Microsoft and
Apparently among the file formats Gates since right now we aren’t challenging them. Adobe appear to have established some
did discover online was PDF, noting in his It may be worth investing in optimizing our common ground, cooperating where and
detailed treatise that “even the IRS offers file formats for these scenarios. What is when it makes sense, competing on other
tax forms in PDF format.” our competitor to Acrobat? It was sup- fronts. For example, Adobe participated in
PAGE 12 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Microsoft’s launch of its latest XP operat- guides [shown at right] for its MS Office involved in publishing related and printing
ing system release, and develops special for Macintosh OS X software and other related standards activity, and what kind of
•Contents
PDF-creation utilities – Acrobat PDFMaker products. integration of effort between Adobe and
•Ten years of PDF – that integrate with Microsoft’s popular Microsoft might we expect to see relative
During an audience Q&A session following
•Masters of PDF Office products. They compete directly to, say, XML meets PDF over a cup of
a rare appearance by Gates at the 1997
in the eBooks arena, where Adobe’s PDF Java?”
•Security & accessibility Seybold Seminars Publishing Conference
is pitted against Microsoft’s LIT format,
•Design & creation in San Francisco, he was asked about Considering his intended-to-be private
and free Reader versus free Reader, each
Microsoft’s propensity for attempting thoughts in the 1995 Tidal Wave memo,
•Acrobat best practice seeking industry adoption as a standard.
to create its own solutions rather than Gates seemed almost enthusiastic in
While PDF clearly isn’t the default file
•Future of PDF adopting and working with external ones his public comments about PDF and on
format on Microsoft’s own Web site, it
favored by a particular industry. Following Microsoft’s relationship with Adobe:
is used for a variety of purposes, such as
Gates presentation, which he began by
recent datasheets about its Windows XP “Well, the answer is yes, absolutely.
citing “a renewed partnership between
OS, its XML-based .NET initiative and user Microsoft’s a company that, once we get
Microsoft and Adobe,” a member of the
involved in something, we’re very serious
predominantly print publishing audience
ADVERTISEMENT about it. And this is a market that’s really
posed the following to him:
going to drive our technology, push it to
�� “Currently, this industry is in the process of the limits. In a lot of the high-end Windows
��
�� retooling its business process, its content NT workstations, the need for graph-
��
�� streams around PDF. PDF is the successor ics performance, the need for a richer
��
��
to postscript. Now XML is very important software base, the need for document
��
��
for the very reasons you mentioned, but management – it’s going to come out of
�� in terms of the kinds of standards that the publishing industry. And so it’s valuable
��
�� are needed to integrate commerce, the to us not only as a big market, but also
�� content streams, the media streams for as something that improves our products
��
��
��
both print and non-print media, and the for an even broader market that we’re
�� process models that work in the graphic involved in. In terms of PDF, I agree PDF
��
arts would imply getting together with the is important. I don’t see it being the sole
��
standards activities to relate to these kinds standard of importance. We are working
� � � � � � � � � � ��
��
��
of business concerns. Question: Do you with Adobe on PDF. PDF is where you’ve
��
PAGE 13 of 71 �� really, really love us, and will Microsoft be done your layout; you’ve decided to be
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX print-based; and when you have material ics market and the electronic document collaborative document review, scanning/
that that’s the only way you’re going to sharing markets. We believe that, due to optical character recognition (“OCR”), and
•Contents
deliver it, then, great, you can transmit Microsoft’s market dominance, any new security capabilities, in competition with
•Ten years of PDF it in that form. And so it should have a Microsoft products in these markets will similar features offered by Adobe’s ePaper
•Masters of PDF close relationship to the other standards, be highly competitive with our products. products family.
to HTML and XML. And our relationship If competing new products achieve wide-
•Security & accessibility In the PDF file creation market, our Adobe
with Adobe is very complementary. They spread acceptance, our operating results
•Design & creation ePaper product family faces competition
do high-end publishing tools; we do not would suffer.”
from clone products such as the Jaws
•Acrobat best practice do high-end publishing tools. And so we’re
In another section of the annual report product line from Global Graphics
able to sit down together, and say, hey,
•Future of PDF describing “Competition” for Adobe’s (formerly Harlequin), and other smaller
how can we grow the market very easily,
various product segments, Microsoft is PDF creation solutions that can be found
and that’s the dynamic you’ve seen over
again referenced in regards to perceived for free on the World Wide Web. In the
the last 18-month time period.”
challenges to its ePaper products and area of electronic forms solutions, we face
On the other hand, Gates’ assurances applications: competition from Cardiff and Microsoft,
and the recent Andrews article not as well as from Accelio (formerly Jetform)
“In electronic document delivery,
withstanding, Adobe by no means takes unless and until our proposed acquisition of
exchange, collaboration, and archive
for granted Microsoft’s potential as a Accelio is consummated.”
markets, the electronic forms market, and
competitor for several of its own software
the PDF file creation market, our Adobe One of Adobe’s markets of greatest
products, including the Acrobat family
ePaper product family faces competition Acrobat penetration and continuing focus is
within its ePaper Solutions Group. In its
from entrenched office applications within the various branches of government,
2001 annual report, Adobe notes in a
and increased competition from new as its major presence at the recent FOSE
section on “Factors That May Affect Future
emerging products and technologies. conference made clear. Yet Microsoft
Results of Operations” that:
Current office applications and Internet hasn’t surrendered that key market to
“The market for our graphics and ePaper content creation/management tools that Adobe or PDF, as “Government Computer
applications is intensely and increasingly use Microsoft Word, XML, HTML, and News” reported last year in its “Microsoft
competitive and is significantly affected by Tagged Information File Format (“TIFF”) stakes e-gov claim on XML” article:
product introductions and market activi- file formats compete with Adobe PDF
“Seeking to stake out a large chunk
ties of industry competitors. Additionally, and Adobe’s ePaper product family. In
of territory in electronic government,
Microsoft has increased its presence in the addition, Microsoft’s new Office XP suite
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates declared the
PAGE 14 of 71 low-end consumer digital imaging/graph- targets business users that want improved
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Extensible Markup Language the language to help identify some of the popular Adobe Crackerjack (Lantana) - Windows &
of government and Microsoft’s Windows Acrobat plug-ins, products and tools Macintosh
•Contents
.NET initiative as the best way to build people appear to be using. It also offers
•Ten years of PDF A powerful plug-in that enables PDF-based
e-gov applications.” a degree of insight into common types
color production printing; also includes
•Masters of PDF of PDF usage, suggesting for which niche
While you await the final (?) outcome of the Crackerjack Pilot for watched folder
applications people seek enhanced features
•Security & accessibility current Microsoft antitrust hearings, you automation. Crackerjack extends the
beyond Acrobat’s available toolset.
•Design & creation can read more about the company’s latest usability of Acrobat and PDF by providing
.NET-centric intentions in another Gates At year’s end, we’ve expanded the list expert control over print output and
memo from June 2001. In the four-page, to highlight the 25 top-selling products associated devices, such as imagesetters,
•Future of PDF public message addressed to Developer offered in the PDF Store – based on proofers, platemakers, digital presses, and
and IT Professionals, Gates elaborates on purchases made and fulfilled online during plotters. With the pre-separated output
what the next generation of the Internet 2002 – as follows: option, you can also proof separations on
will look like: “at the heart of the solution PostScript desktop laser printers.
ARTS Split & Merge Wizard (A Round
is eXtensible Markup Language,” Gates
Table Solution) - Windows Amyuni PDF Converter (Amyuni
says; industry watchers will know where
Consultants) - Windows
to insert the phrase ‘Microsoft’s endorsed Allows you to easily split or merge a
version of ...’ in that sentence. number of PDFs. The wizard interface Convert virtually any document under
provides straightforward instructions Windows to PDF format; concatenate
It’s all spelled out and available for down-
throughout the process. or append multiple print jobs into one
load from Microsoft’s Web site – in Adobe
PDF file; interface with any Windows
PDF. StampPDF (Appligent) - Windows &
programming language, including VBA.
Macintosh
This interface allows you to set output
TOP 25 BEST-SELLING ADOBE
Lets you add permanent text to any PDF directory, file name and concatenation
ACROBAT/PDF PRODUCTS FOR
document by just choosing a menu item options without user interaction.
2002
within Acrobat: no need to launch a
Highlighting PDF Store’s top plug-ins and Gemini (Iceni Technology) - Windows &
separate application. Text may be added in
applications for past year Macintosh
any position: diagonally across a document
We tabulate the Top 10 best- as watermarks (Draft or Confidential for Advanced PDF content extraction tool.
selling products at the PDF Store example), or as headers and footers. Running as a plug-in for Adobe Acrobat,
(www.pdfstore.com) each month in part Gemini can extract text and images from
PAGE 15 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX PDF documents producing HTML, RTF ARTS PDF Tools (A Round Table Solution) ARTS PDF Stamper (A Round Table
(for Microsoft Word), ASCII, JPEG, TIFF, - Windows & Macintosh Solution) - Windows
•Contents
BMP, PNG, OEB and WML output.
•Ten years of PDF A customizable toolbar for Adobe A flexible stamping tool for Adobe Acrobat.
Jaws PDF Creator (Global Graphics Acrobat 5.0 that comes with more than Apply any combination of text, image and
•Masters of PDF
Software) - Windows & Macintosh 70 pre-defined tools. In addition to these action stamps to one or more PDF files.
•Security & accessibility time-saving tools, the plug-in lets you make You can create the precise stamp you need
Offers simple, efficient and cost effective
•Design & creation your own tools – giving you quick access to with options such as overlay/underlay,
PDF creation. Generated PDFs can be
your own pre-defined tasks and shortcuts rotation, position, opacity, color and font
•Acrobat best practice used with Acrobat products, or 3rd party
– and lets you copy and share them with type.
PDF tools.
•Future of PDF other users.
ARTS PDF Workshop (A Round Table
ARTS Import (A Round Table Solution)
DocuCom PDF Driver (Zeon Corporation) Solution) - Windows
- Windows
- Windows
Designed to help you manage your PDFs. It
Lets you convert your image files to PDF
A stable and powerful PDF creator for the collates the document and file info of your
faster than ever before; you can convert
PDF user. PDFs - title, subject, keywords, pages, etc.
large batches of BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG, RLE
- into a spreadsheet to simplify managing
and TIF files, all without the need for Quite Imposing (Quite Software) -
lots of PDFs.
Adobe Acrobat. Windows & Macintosh
BCL Drake (BCL Technologies) - Windows
ARTS PDF Splitter (A Round Table A plug-in for Acrobat to perform
Solution) - Windows & Macintosh imposition – combining pages onto larger Application that automatically converts
sheets to make books, booklets, or special PDF documents into RTF documents
Split your PDF files in a number of ways.
arrangements. Features include n-up pages, utilizing the MS Word(R) drawing features.
After splitting, all links are updated to
booklet making, adding page numbers. A The resulting RTF page structure will
adjust for the changes, saving you the labor
particularly important feature of the plug-in match the page structure in the original
of individually adjusting each of them for
is that the combined pages are a new PDF PDF file, allowing the information to be
each new PDF you create. The product
document, giving a way to check each presented accurately.
can also be used to rearrange the order of
sheet instantly, saving time and money.
pages in a PDF file while keeping the links
in the file intact.
PAGE 16 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX ARTS Link Tool (A Round Table Solution) much or as little of the text from your PDF to HTML including DOC, XLS, PPT, TXT,
- Windows & Macintosh document that you need, saving time and BMP, JPEG, TIFF, CHM and PDF with
•Contents
increasing your efficiency. highest possible accuracy.
•Ten years of PDF Extends Adobe Acrobat’s tools for editing
links in PDF files. PDF Snake (Jeffrey Glen Rennie) - Variform PDF (Lantana) - Windows &
•Masters of PDF
Windows Macintosh
BatchPrintPDF (Brook House Publishing)
- Windows A complete imposing solution. It can do N- Extends the usability of Acrobat forms.
•Design & creation up, make booklets, stamp documents, and Allows you to merge delimited text files
Automatically printout multiple documents;
•Acrobat best practice can even process hundreds of documents into Acrobat forms, and print the results
works with both Acrobat and the free
with a single command. or save them to file (PostScript or PDF via
•Future of PDF Acrobat Reader. Batch-Print bridges
Acrobat Distiller). Great for a myriad of
this gap by offering a variety easy to use TallPDF.NET (Tall Components) - Windows
mail merge, forms filling, and other variable
functions to optimize and automate output.
Create PDF documents either data applications.
PDFlib (PDFlib GmbH) - multiple platforms programmatically or from XML.
activePDF Toolkit (activePDF) - Windows
TallPDF.NET allows you to serve dynamic
Premier software component for
PDF from any .NET application including A “grab bag” of goodies that will make
generating PDF on the fly.
ASP.NET pages and web services. your PDF development a breeze. The
ARTS Link Checker (A Round Table form filling capabilities make PDF forms a
Jaws PDF Editor (Global Graphics
Solution) - Windows & Macintosh snap to implement and with the merge and
Software) - Windows
extraction technology, creating complex
Automatically checks for dead links.
A PDF manipulation application, aimed at PDF documents is now easier than ever.
Moving pages in a PDF file or between files
the corporate marketplace or single user, With the PDF information properties,
can break your links. Finds and reports on
where the most common functions in PDF you can easily develop a document
these broken links. Links to external files
editing are required. management system for your intranet.
are also checked to ensure that the file
Toolkit also supports placing arbitrary text
exists and is in the proper location. BCL Magellan (BCL Technologies) -
and PDF logos on existing documents.
Windows
iCopy (Image Solutions) - Windows
An advanced stand-alone document
Copy, edit and reformat text from
conversion tool that allows for dynamic
image-based PDFs with ease. Using OCR
content formation. BCL Magellan 6.0
technology, iCopy allows you to select as
converts any printable Windows document
PAGE 17 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX and PDF by Adobe Systems, Planet PDF advanced skills workshop on “Scripting
CEO Karl De Abrew is conducting a series and Enhancing PDF Forms” in Columbus,
•Contents MASTERS OF PDF
of brief “Masters of the PDF Universe” Ohio – and he tells us today there is still
•Ten years of PDF
profiles with key members of the Planet room for a couple more interested folks to
•Masters of PDF PDF community. Today Karl talks with Max register!
PDF MASTER:
•Security & accessibility MAX WYSS TALKS WITH PLANET Wyss of Prodok Engineering, based near
KARL DE ABREW:
PDF’S KARL DE ABREW Zurich, Switzerland. Highly regarded for
•Design & creation Today many Acrobat & PDF users will be
his expertise in PDF-based forms – and
•Acrobat best practice Reflects on his first Acrobat encounter, familiar with you because of your work
especially known for some of his legendary,
legendary expertise in PDF forms and with PDF forms. When and why did you
•Future of PDF interactive forms that integrate JavaScript
Acrobat JavaScript first get involved with Acrobat/PDF?
for added functionality – Wyss also is a
EDITOR’S NOTE:
consultant on the “Smart PDF Workflow” MAX WYSS:
As part of our ongoing reflection on the
concept and a popular speaker at industry “My very first contact with Acrobat was
June 1993 introduction of Adobe Acrobat
conferences and events. In fact, later this back in version 2.0 times, where Adobe
week (March 11-12) Max is leading an had a short-time bundle of Acrobat with
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 18 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Illustrator. And I happened to get my Another significant development is the a need for separating out this functionality
•Contents
update at that time. My first use was to get whole community which evolved around to make it easier to use?
CAD drawings into Illustrator, in order to PDF. And the amazing thing is that, despite
•Ten years of PDF enhance them for the service manuals. It its size, it is still a ‘pretty friendly bunch of
WYSS:
•Masters of PDF did work, but of course, we noticed the people.’ And, unless ‘corporate’ types start “This is a consequence of the versatility
problems which are still there, caused poisoning it, it looks as if it will remain so of the Portable Document Format. It can
by the different ways to describe curves, for some time. be intimidating, but I don’t think that it is a
•Design & creation good idea to separate out such functionali-
and the line plotter-orientedness of CAD
DE ABREW:
•Acrobat best practice programs. ties because it can be that the next day, you
Acrobat and PDF are now used in so many
•Future of PDF suddenly may need it. What, on the other
Then there was some quiet time until I got industries and in so many ways, do you
that infamous project for the belt-drive- see new areas that haven’t perhaps been hand, would be an advantage is some way
component catalog. This, together with tapped much yet? to customize the user interface, giving the
Acrobat 3, was what I would call the ‘new user the best possible working environ-
WYSS: “PDF is so open and versatile that
era’ for me with PDF and Acrobat.” ment. Such an approach would also allow a
essentially everything is possible. I remem-
wider-spread use of the application.”
DE ABREW: ber a commercial ‘If you can imagine it,
Briefly describe the most significant change you can do it.’ I am not quite sure if it was DE ABREW:
in the development or use of the technol- from Adobe, or from Disney, or someone Pondering the future of Acrobat and/or
ogy, since you first began working with else, but it pretty much says it. This means PDF, what most excites you about the next
Acrobat/PDF, and why do you consider it that I would not be surprised wherever few years?
significant? it comes up. It could come up anywhere
where information has to be presented. WYSS:
WYSS:
And considering the other layers of the “That there is a surprise just around the
“For me, the most significant develop-
PDF format, a lot is imaginable.” corner. Another thing which is amazing is
ment was definitely the introduction of
still how many people don’t know about
interactivity, by means of the forms feature. DE ABREW:
A first step came with Acrobat 3, and then Acrobat has grown into a large, multi-func- the potential PDF (and Acrobat) has,
– of course – the big boost with the 3.5 tion tool for use in so many areas – includ- particularly if it comes to interactive func-
Forms Update which brought us Acrobat ing document management, presentations, tions. More than often I hear people say
JavaScript. This step was definitely the end collaboration, forms and prepress – and it after some presentations ‘I did not know
of the notion of PDF being a static format. can be intimidating for new users. Is there that this is possible.’
PAGE 19 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX DE ABREW: of the product. I still hear “I got Adobe, KARL DE ABREW:
According to Adobe’s development cycle why can’t I do this or that?”. Well, those Today many Acrobat & PDF users will be
•Contents
for Acrobat, a new version is expected people have the free Reader, and want to familiar with you because of your work as
•Ten years of PDF sometime in early- to mid-2003. What the founder of Adobe Systems and creator
do things that Reader can’t.”.
•Masters of PDF additions or enhancements would you like of the Portable Document Format (PDF).
to see in the next major upgrade, and why? PDF MASTER: JOHN WARNOCK What originally motivated you to create
WYSS:
TALKS WITH PLANET PDF’S KARL Acrobat/PDF?
“Oh, there are many wishes, and there
DE ABREW
JOHN WARNOCK:
will be even more when the product finally Founding Father of Acrobat relishes “I have been in the Computer business
•Future of PDF comes out. One thing I really, really wish success of PDF, sees future potential for since 1961, and the problem of communi-
is that Adobe remembers the ‘P’ in PDF, multi-media content and archiving cating documents has always been around.
namely ‘Portable,’ and that there will be no EDITOR’S NOTE: In the early years when most printers were
difference between the functionality of the As part of our ongoing reflection on the impact printers, the approach was to sepa-
various platforms: Mac, Unix (OK, let’s be June 1993 introduction of Adobe Acrobat rate form and content. SGML was invented
modest, and just say Linux and FreeBSD), and PDF by Adobe Systems, Planet to solve that problem. Unfortunately the
Windows. The question ‘does it work PDF CEO Karl De Abrew is conducting SGML approach never quite solved the
on ...?’ should no longer be needed. The a series of brief “Masters of the PDF diversity needed in formatting complex
question should be ‘is it possible to do?’, Universe” profiles with key members of documents.
and the answer would be either ‘Yes’ or the Planet PDF community. Today Karl
When PostScript became a broadly based
‘No, but we are working on it.’” tal ks with John Warnock, co-founder of
desktop standard driving raster devices,
Adobe Systems, retired CEO and current
DE ABREW: it occurred to me that by capturing the
Chairman of the Board – and perhaps most
Briefly describe a common misconception PostScript stream and redefining the
significantly in this venue, the mastermind
about or frequent prob em you’ve seen imaging operators, we could write a small,
behind Adobe Acrobat and the Portable
with Acrobat/PDF that you’d like to try to static output stream that would accurately
Document Format (PDF). In his 1991
clarify for others and/or provide a tip to capture the “look” of the document and
“Camelot” report, later published on
address. give page independence.
Planet PDF, Warnock publicly detailed
WYSS: for the first time the foundation for and Furthermore, we did not need ‘permission’
“Hmmm... well, I think it is still the ques- concept of PDF. The rest, as they say, is from any of the document-creation ap-
PAGE 20 of 71 tion about available functionality and price history – and a rich one it is. plications. (All other attempts at universal
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX document formats actually needed ogy, since you first designed Acrobat/PDF, I also think PDF could be a much more
•Contents companies to agree on the approach and why do you consider it significant? flexible format for carrying all kinds of
– which has been the death-nail of multi-media content. If, for instance, you
•Ten years of PDF WARNOCK:
universal document formats). look at the DVD spec, you will find one of
“The most significant change in the devel-
•Masters of PDF the worst format designs on the planet. A
It was always part of the plan to first ac- opment of PDF has been to add capabilities PDF-based spec could do a much better,
curately capture the look of the document, so that PDF documents and the computers and more universal job.
•Design & creation that use them can mimic a wide variety of
and then extend the format to capture the
One of PDF potential and important uses is
•Acrobat best practice most important aspects of the document’s paper processes that occur in widely used
as a rock-solid archiving format. Care must
•Future of PDF structure. I’m happy to see this is happening.” business workflows.
be taken to subset PDF in such a way so
DE ABREW: These new capabilities amplify the eco- that this done robustly and correctly.”
Briefly describe the most significant change nomic benefits of using electronic docu-
DE ABREW:
in the development or use of the technol- ments, and can potentially really improve Acrobat has grown into a large, multi-func-
the efficiencies of a lot of businesses.” tion tool for use in so many areas – includ-
ADVERTISEMENT
DE ABREW: ing document management, presentations,
Acrobat and PDF are now used in so many collaboration, forms and prepress – and it
industries and in so many ways, do you can be intimidating for new users. Is there
a need for separating out this functionality
see new areas that haven’t perhaps been
to make it easier to use.
tapped much yet?
WARNOCK:
WARNOCK:
“Acrobat and PDF-based technologies are
“I think the imaging model upon which
very general and hard to understand. Once
Acrobat is based can be used much more
a user has used Acrobat extensively, then
effectively on the Web. As we all know, they finally “get it.” I hope that over the
simple things like printing are not easy or years, people will develop a mental model
reliable in Web based applications. Using of what it is and what it is good for. I don’t
Acrobat technology can solve this problem know whether splitting the product up
and make everyone’s Internet experience will really solve the basic understanding
PAGE 21 of 71 much more enjoyable. problem.
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX DE ABREW: application quite like it, users have a very KARL DE ABREW:
Pondering the future of Acrobat and/or hard time putting it into a category. Today many Acrobat & PDF users will be
•Contents
PDF, what most excites you about the next familiar with you because of your regular
•Ten years of PDF Unfortunately, I think the only way to
few years? involvement in PDF-related user forums
understand this thing is to use it.”
•Masters of PDF and discussion lists across the Web and also
WARNOCK:
through Quite Software. When and why
•Security & accessibility “The effective use of PDF within a PDF MASTER: AANDI INSTON did you first get involved with Acrobat/
corporate, educational or government TALKS WITH PLANET PDF’S KARL
•Design & creation PDF?
environment can save huge amounts of DE ABREW
•Acrobat best practice time and money. It can also provide a AANDI INSTON:
Reflects on Acrobat/PDF and launch of
•Future of PDF wonderful cross platform communication “In 1992 I got my first PC. That may seem
Quite Software
medium that is not wedded to a particular late, but I had spent years working around
EDITOR’S NOTE:
operating system or computer type. I am computers, and hadn’t previously seen a
As part of our ongoing reflection on the
most excited to see people find new and need for my own one. After playing with it
June 1993 introduction of Adobe Acrobat
creative uses and benefits from the use of a while and getting bored with games, I felt
and PDF by Adobe Systems, Planet
the technology. I still think we are in the I wanted a challenge.
PDF CEO Karl De Abrew is conducting
early days of adoption, and that most of the
a series of brief “Masters of the PDF So I set out to write something that was
economic benefit of using Acrobat/PDF are
Universe” profiles with key members of large, interesting, and which hadn’t been
ahead of us.”
the Planet PDF community. Today Karl done - an interactive PostScript tool.
DE ABREW: talks with Aandi Inston of Quite Software This took around 5 years, and well over
Briefly describe a common misconception (www.quite.com). Aandi, a one-man oracle 100,000 lines of code. PostScript had a
about or frequent problem you’ve seen on the technology, has most certainly double use, as I was working in newspaper
with Acrobat/PDF that you’d like to try to answered more Acrobat/PDF-related publishing, and the tool turned out to be
clarify for others and/or provide a tip to questions and offered more free online very useful dealing with the day to day
address. assistance in the past decade than anyone problems facing a busy newspaper.
WARNOCK:
we know. In addition, Quite Software’s And PostScript led into PDF. Why? I
“Acrobat is not a stand-alone application. products are used and publicly acclaimed had become involved in Compuserve’s
It needs other authoring applications to by many, including former Adobe Systems discussion forums, answering questions
make it whole. Because there is no other CEO and co-founder John Warnock. on PostScript (after I got over the initial
disappointment that nobody would an-
PAGE 22 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX swer mine). But there wasn’t very much Meanwhile, I found more forums where INSTON:
discussion. When Acrobat appeared, the PostScript and PDF were discussed, “That’s a tough one. For the most part
•Contents
PostScript connection was very clear and stayed active. I estimated that I post what happens is that groups of people
•Ten years of PDF and made it easy to master. PDF 1.0 and something over ten thousand messages a find new uses for Acrobat or PDF, and
•Masters of PDF Acrobat 1.0 were a whole lot simpler! year, which may account for why so many this becomes significant enough that new
replies are rather short.” features appear for that target group. No
•Security & accessibility Later, I left my employer to start selling the
one thing stands out as most significant.
•Design & creation tool I’d written (no, I didn’t use any work DE ABREW:
time!) I called this PSAlter. But looking Briefly describe the most significant change Perhaps rather than an Acrobat-based
•Acrobat best practice advance, what excites me is how many
for the next product, it was clear to me in the development or use of the technol-
•Future of PDF in 1996 that a lot more people would be ogy, since you first began working with things are available on the Internet that
buying PDF tools than PostScript tools. Acrobat/PDF, and why do you consider it would perhaps never have been made
So I began writing Acrobat plug-ins. And significant? available in another form. Google lists over
Quite Software - as we decided to call the 8 million PDF files.”
company - took off.
ADVERTISEMENT
��

��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��
��
� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � ��
PAGE 23 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX DE ABREW: The challenge for Adobe here is not only thing in itself. What matters is presentation.
Acrobat and PDF are now used in so many technical, but to figure out if they can make Microsoft Word has a zillion features, and
•Contents
industries and in so many ways, do you revenue from putting efforts into this area. most people never use most of them, but
•Ten years of PDF see new areas that haven’t perhaps been Adobe actually use HTML help in their I don’t think people are intimidated or
•Masters of PDF tapped much yet? own products, and this strikes me as just confused by Word. Adobe have a major
weird. challenge to make Acrobat more accesssi-
•Security & accessibility INSTON:
ble, because after all writing a document is
“Acrobat and PDF are getting in all sorts of Revenue again. Sorry to return to it,
•Design & creation a much simpler thing than all the different
places, but there are many areas where it but like any business Adobe will only do
•Acrobat best practice things Acrobat might do.
isn’t. Some random thoughts: what makes them money. The key area
•Future of PDF where PDF is missing is the home market, The key problem with Acrobat is its lack
PDF reading appliances or palmtops.
because the business-level price of Acrobat of a starting point, so new users, used to a
Reading PDFs is always an afterthought
keeps it out. If Adobe can find how to tap culture of never reading a word of docu-
with these appliances, and the processing
that market without hurting their corpo- mentation, get lost. Worse, they frequently
power seems to limit what can be done
rate and professional markets, that could arrive at a very limited understanding of
with PDFs. An appliance designed to
be huge. But it’s really difficult to make how to use Acrobat, which they then are
work with PDF at its core could be really
money with $29 software, it may never unable to apply to new situations. Perhaps
interesting. A key problem with adopting
happen.” the commonest example of this is the
PDF in other technologies, though, is that
‘Create PDF’ button in Word. Intended as
regular updates to the PDF format make it DE ABREW:
a shortcut and to add useful features, many
a moving target; and Adobe don’t have the Acrobat has grown into a large, multi-func-
users only learn this way of making PDF,
right mix of tools and technologies available tion tool for use in so many areas – includ-
and are lost in any program that doesn’t
to license and keep up to date. ing document management, presentations,
have a ‘Create PDF’ button.
collaboration, forms and prepress – and it
Online help. Developers would love to
can be intimidating for new users. Is there Making Acrobat smaller and taking features
use PDF to provide their help, because
a need for separating out this functionality out wouldn’t necessarily solve this - as long
they are already using it for their manuals.
to make it easier to use. as there is even one choice, and people
There are some holes in what Adobe
don’t read manuals, there will be people
provide that mean that while they can get INSTON:
going the wrong way.
close, PDF help is not really very useful. “There is no doubt that the Acrobat
Also, most useful applications require the product has a lot of features. But having Adobe made a bad move with Acrobat
full Acrobat, so they can’t be distributed. a lot of features is not necessarily a bad 5.0, to remove the ‘Acrobat Tour’ that had
PAGE 24 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX been on the help menu. While not promi- PDF MASTER: TED PADOVA Adobe Acrobat Forms & Adobe Acrobat 5
•Contents
nent enough, it did give a good, short, help TALKS WITH PLANET PDF’S KARL Complete Course. When and why did you
in the right direction. Acrobat vitally needs DE ABREW first get involved with Acrobat/PDF?
•Ten years of PDF this kind of thing, but more prominent.”
‘Acrobat PDF Bible’ author practices and TED PADOVA:
•Masters of PDF preaches the PDF religion
DE ABREW: I started using Adobe Acrobat in it’s first
•Security & accessibility Pondering the future of Acrobat and/or Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing release, version 1.0 in 1992. I started a
•Design & creation PDF, what most excites you about the next reflection on the June 1993 introduction service bureau in 1990. At that time we
few years? of Adobe Acrobat and PDF by Adobe were using PostScript Level 1 RIPs. Files as
Systems, Planet PDF CEO Karl De Abrew simple as a 32K Illustrator or CorelDraw
INSTON:
•Future of PDF is conducting a series of brief “Masters file could take hours to print or often
“That things I haven’t thought of, that
of the PDF Universe” profiles with key they crashed our RIPs. We used Acrobat
Adobe never thought of, will continue to
members of the Planet PDF community. Distiller and Acrobat Exchange (as it was
happen and surprise us all.”
Today Karl talks with Ted Padova, someone called then) to be a problem solver for use
DE ABREW: who both practices what he preaches and when we encountered stubborn files that
Briefly describe a common misconception preaches what he practices when it comes ADVERTISEMENT
about or frequent problem you’ve seen to Acrobat and PDF. Padova is the author
with Acrobat/PDF that you’d like to try to
clarify for others and/or provide a tip to
of several relevant books, with the Acrobat
PDF Bible probably his best-known. ��
address. Padova also speaks at various industry
��
�
INSTON:
conferences and events, offers workshops
“There are so many. Some people become and teaches courses. In addition, Padova
enraged because Acrobat doesn’t do is the CEO and Managing Partner of The
something, because they decided that was Image Source Digital Imaging and Photo
what it did. Some people are desperate Finishing Centers in Ventura and Thousand
because their job seems to depend on Oaks, CA.
Acrobat doing something nobody ever KARL DE ABREW:
��
designed it for. My tip is to find out what Today many Acrobat & PDF users will be ��
Acrobat can do, before promising your familiar with you because of your work as
boss to do something!” the author of many Acrobat/PDF books
PAGE 25 of 71 including Acrobat 5.0 PDF Bible, Creating ��
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX couldn’t print. I remember my imaging to build a CD-ROM of all the ADDY award they have the tools to do such fantastic
technicians running up to me telling me entries and we put all the artwork on CD things right now and today. I don’t see a
•Contents
they tried to print such and such file and it for that year with all the winners acknowl- new emerging market for Acrobat PDF
•Ten years of PDF crashed the RIP. Then they would say “but edged. The file had bookmarks, links and because many people in every industry are
•Masters of PDF Ted, after I ‘Acrobated it, it printed in min- sound and a CD-ROM was distributed at using it today. It’s everywhere. What I do
utes.” I remember one file in particular that the end of the ADDY Award show to all see happening is tremendous expansion
we tried to print for more than 8 hours the attendees. As I headed up the project of existing markets by the end of this year.
•Design & creation until we finally stopped the RIPing. It was with several local designers, everyone kept I think some of the real growth we’ll see
•Acrobat best practice a 150 MB PostScript file that reduced to saying, “WOW, I didn’t know you could will be in design and printing professionals
less than 300 K after distillation and printed do that in Acrobat!” It was version 3 that expanding an already standardized market.
•Future of PDF
perfectly after 15 minutes of RIPing. I proposed writing the Acrobat PDF Bible We’ll see much interest with engineering
with my publisher and I also proposed a professionals and growth in enterprises
DE ABREW:
new class on Acrobat at the University from industry, education and government.
Briefly describe the most significant change
of California where I was teaching part We’ll see some more growth in the eBook
in the development or use of the technol-
time. Both my publisher and the university marketplace that still needs a little more
ogy, since you first began working with
thought it was absurd that I would want to time to mature, and I think we’ll see some
Acrobat/PDF, and why do you consider it
spend any kind of time on that little thingy growth with multimedia professionals. I
significant?
you could download free from Adobe’s also think we’ll see more growth in the
PADOVA: Web site. Since then, I believe I convinced legal profession. By the end of this calendar
One milestone I remember is when them otherwise. year I believe Acrobat will grow substan-
Acrobat Pro (version 2 that settled at tially in all markets across the board.
DE ABREW:
2.1) was released. Acrobat Catalog was
Acrobat and PDF are now used in so many DE ABREW:
introduced then and Acrobat started to
industries and in so many ways, do you Acrobat has grown into a large, multi-func-
reach out to more users. It became more
see new areas that haven’t perhaps been tion tool for use in so many areas – includ-
than just a rescue utility for me and we
tapped much yet? ing document management, presentations,
began to see the real promise of PDF. I
collaboration, forms and prepress – and it
started to look at Acrobat much differently PADOVA:
can be intimidating for new users. Is there
then and I used it for more than printing It seems to me that many people are
a need for separating out this functionality
and prepress. Version 3 was the next big always looking over the mountain, so to
to make it easier to use.
step and when I really started evangelizing speak, about where we’re going and what’s
PAGE 26 of 71 the product. I convinced our local Ad club going to happen next without realizing
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX PDF MASTER: PATTIE BELLE and why did you first get involved with Acrobat/PDF, and why do you consider it
•Contents HASTINGS TALKS WITH PLANET Acrobat/PDF? significant?
PDF’S KARL DE ABREW PATTIE BELLE HASTINGS: HASTINGS:
•Ten years of PDF
Reflects on her Adobe Acrobat use and the “I come from the creative end of the PDF “I guess it would have to be Apple using
•Masters of PDF slow growth of truly interactive PDFs world - I make PDFs and teach others how PDF as the imaging model for the OSX
•Security & accessibility Editor’s Note: As part of our ongoing to make them. I am in absolute awe of the operating system. They haven’t gotten all
•Design & creation reflection on the June 1993 introduction developers and programmers that inhabit the kinks worked out, but it was a brilliant
of Adobe Acrobat and PDF by Adobe Planet PDF. move. OS X has to be the easiest (but
Systems, Planet PDF CEO Karl De Abrew obviously not perfect) way to create a PDF.
A few years ago, my design studio pur-
•Future of PDF is conducting a series of brief “Masters There are problems such as file size, but
chased a copy of Acrobat 4 to create PDF
of the PDF Universe” profiles with key since Distiller is not yet available for OS X
files of print collateral for our clients to
members of the Planet PDF community. it gives the Mac user another option.
distribute on their Web sites. I was also
Today Karl talks with Pattie Belle Hastings,
going to graduate school at the time and I think another development related to this
co-author of the “Adobe Acrobat 5 Master
creating multimedia documents as part is the increasing number of applications
Class” book, published by Peachpit Press.
of my research, when I stumbled across that are able to save or export a docu-
A keen proponent for PDFs that are
references to buttons, sounds, and movies ment as a PDF without the use of Distiller
designed for on-screen viewing – taking
in the Acrobat 4 manual. I quickly realized or Acrobat. InDesign 2 is my favorite
full advantage of Acrobat’s interactive
that interactive PDF files would be easily example, because in addition to exporting
and multimedia capabilities – she is an
distributable and that I wouldn’t have to PDF files, it has powerful features that
Associate Professor of Interactive Design
learn a programming language to create allow you to create all kinds of hyperlinks,
at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut,
interesting interactive experiences. Ever bookmarks, and tagged PDFs to name a
and an accomplished artist and graphic
since, I have been trying to come up with few. My hunch is that the next version of
designer. Pattie Belle is a scheduled speaker
creative and unusual uses for Acrobat and InDesign will have even more Acrobat type
at the PDF Conference in Bethesda, MD in
PDF.” features.”
June.
DE ABREW: DE ABREW:
KARL DE ABREW:
Briefly describe the most significant change Acrobat and PDF are now used in so many
Today many Acrobat & PDF users will be
in the development or use of the technol- industries and in so many ways, do you
familiar with you because of your book,
ogy, since you first began working with see new areas that haven’t perhaps been
Adobe Acrobat 5 Master Class. When
tapped much yet?
PAGE 27 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX HASTINGS: files. I still have that hope, but I think that sign, and comment. Acrobat Approval
“I don’t think that the existing areas have it is going to take much longer than I had doesn’t quite fit the bill, though.
•Contents
even had the surface scratched. How imagined.”
•Ten years of PDF Me? I want the ability to do it all, even
many people are really using PDF beyond
DE ABREW: if I may never get around to it. Almost
•Masters of PDF document distribution? How many people
Acrobat has grown into a large, multi-func- all software is intimidating to new users
are using PDF for editorial workflow? Or
•Security & accessibility tion tool for use in so many areas – includ- these days. Have you had a look at Flash,
prepress? Or ebooks? Or ...? There is still a
•Design & creation ing document management, presentations, Dreamweaver, GoLive, or Director, lately?
whole lot of room to grow.
collaboration, forms and prepress – and it Even Photoshop has become incredibly
•Acrobat best practice I am still not seeing a large increase in PDF can be intimidating for new users. Is there complex. I teach all of these software
•Future of PDF files designed for screen use or designed a need for separating out this functionality applications (including Acrobat) to people
to take advantage of all the features of to make it easier to use. who have never used them before and
Acrobat. I was hoping that after our book Acrobat is the easiest of the lot.”
HASTINGS:
came out, people would be inspired to
“Acrobat has become this sort of Swiss DE ABREW:
create beautiful, elaborate, interactive PDF
Army knife application and at the same Pondering the future of Acrobat and/or
ADVERTISEMENT time it remains one of the most reasonably PDF, what most excites you about the next
priced software packages for its capabili- few years?
ties. I have participated in some interesting
HASTINGS:
Acrobat forum conversations where this
“I’d love to see more and more PDFs that
very thing was discussed. There exists
are designed for the format. I don’t think
so much confusion among the general
we’ve even approached the edge of what
public about Acrobat and Reader (and
is possible. Acrobat hasn’t really been
Adobe’s various naming schemes over the
explored in terms of application’s capabili-
years) that if they start splitting it up, the
ties in the way that, say, Photoshop has
confusion may increase. What I do ‘get’ is
been. I think that in the future there will
that there is a huge need in the Enterprise
be conversations about good PDF design
(Adobe’s term - not Star Trek) for a scaled-
in the same way that there are lengthy and
down version, so that Acme Inc. doesn’t
detailed books and discussions about web
have to buy 5,000 seats of the full version
design and book design.”
when they only need to be able to save,
PAGE 28 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX DE ABREW: Office PDFMaker plug-in. I would love to Enough. I could obviously go on about all of
According to Adobe’s development cycle have Rulers and Guides like in the other this and much more.”
•Contents
for Acrobat, a new version is expected Adobe applications. I’d love a JavaScript
•Ten years of PDF DE ABREW:
sometime in early- to mid-2003. What interface with plug n’ play behaviors for
Briefly describe a common misconception
•Masters of PDF additions or enhancements would you like us code dummies. I’d love to have the
about or frequent problem you’ve seen
to see in the next major upgrade, and why? ability/interface/instructions on controlling
•Security & accessibility with Acrobat/PDF that you’d like to try to
sound and movies through JavaScript.
HASTINGS: clarify for others and/or provide a tip to
Give us more and better page transitions
“I have a wish list (some may say pipe address.
•Acrobat best practice with an interface for embedding them in a
dreams!) and I think I’ll get some of
document. HASTINGS:
•Future of PDF them, if not all of them. The first would
“What I’m really afraid of is a future of
be full functionality in OSX with all the How about this - the ability to use movie
PDF files that all look like Microsoft Word
features matched to those available in skins (Quicktime feature) – this would
documents. Do I have a quick and easy
Windows. This also includes full par- allow you better integration of movies
solution for this? No.
ity between platforms of the Microsoft into the design of a PDF? And what about
embedding movies? It seems like this I do have a tip, though, and if you are read-
ADVERTISEMENT
should be possible since you can embed ing this interview you are already doing it.
sound - but then what do I know? I’d also If you are interested in PDF for any reason
like the movie tool to recognize native .swf and at any level, visit Planet PDF regularly
(and MP3, etc.) and frequently. It is the best resource on
Innovative PDF Solutions PDF to be found anywhere and in any
I’d love the point & shoot linking that you
form.”
Quite Revealing find on GoLive and Dreamweaver. How
ADVERTISEMENT
Has been developed to "expose PDF secrets."
It assists pre-press professionals with pre-
about better integration with GoLive
flighting. You view PDF documents and selected and ImageReady, so that you can make a
elements side-by-side to figure out where
problems might reside. Viewers are provided Navigation Bar in these apps and import
with RGB and spot colors, halftones,
transparency, transfer functions, ICC profiles, into Acrobat? How about more controls/
and overprinting -- key problem areas. The
plug-in also incorporates one-button actions like actions for embedded sound besides
renaming, recoloring, combining spot plates,
spot to process conversion, halftone and ICC just “play sound?” And please give us the
profile removal.
ability to play Sound Comments in Reader.
Download FREE DEMO Today! www.quite.com
Quite Imposing Plus

Or contact us and get a Free Demo CD sales@quite.com You can read comments in Reader - why
Call INTERNATIONAL • Phone: +44 208 553 6574
can’t we hear the sound comments? OK.
www.quite.com
PAGE 29 of 71 Call U.S.A. and Canada • Phone: 858 581 9143

Mac OS & WIN 95/98/NT
Copyright ©Feature Product

1997-2017 2.9" x 3.4"
Foxit Corporation | All Rights Reserved | www.planetpdf.com | Planet PDF - a World of Adobe Acrobat and PDF Resources.
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX The accessibility issue represents the most publishing, and have little reason to learn.
SECURITY & serious strategic vulnerability for PDF at Not only are they unlikely to receive any
•Contents
ACCESSIBILITY this time. Right now, HTML, DAISY books, technical or functional training on the
•Ten years of PDF RTF or (shudder) even Word files stand subject, but in the vast majority of cases,
•Masters of PDF a better chance of becoming definitive as content authors won’t even get an expen-
DUFF JOHNSON OFFERS
“accessible” document formats! Adobe’s sive screen-reader with which to sample
•Security & accessibility STRATEGIC REVIEW OF PDF
current strategy is top-down, and imposes (dare we add, test) their creations. As a
•Design & creation ACCESSIBILITY
substantial financial and technical burdens result, their PDF files will be, as always,
•Acrobat best practice Document Solutions’ CEO says functional- on content authors. It’s time to look at a built to print, with meaningful accessibility a
ity needs to be built-in, not added on bottom-up approach. Accessibility should distant secondary or tertiary consideration.
•Future of PDF
Copyright © 2003 Duff Johnson, President, be built-in, not added on.
In any event, the issue of tags is near-
Document Solutions, Inc.
THE PROBLEM moot because as PDF creation software
Accessibility: Why is it important to Adobe Adobe’s current approach to accessibility proliferates, professional content authors
Systems? is to make tags available within the latest- using Adobe products and educated on
Editor’s Note: Duff Johnson says this generation PDF specification. Using these accessibility issues will generate only a
article was inspired in part by the recent tags, design professionals may provide alt. modest fraction of PDF documents. If
emergence of PDFAloud, a new click-to- text layouts and coding that can deliver a tags are required to facilitate accessibility,
speak Acrobat plugin that “substantially viable experience for assistive technology then PDF has literally no chance of
addresses the ‘accessibility for the masses’ users - theoretically. While text documents becoming known as accessible. Maybe
concept referred to in the article.” may, at significant expense and trouble, Reader could auto-tag on the fly? Please.
work well with tags, the reality is that only It would be a major miracle if 20 percent
Government demands it. Schools need the very simplest forms are really usable of all documents could be meaningfully
it. Users want it. But when it comes to with tags alone. While the fact that tags are auto-tagged on opening. Effective tags are
making electronic documents friendly to technically capable of rendering document born of many conscious choices, they are
assistive technology, the great strengths of text to a screen reader may formally qualify not a default event. The inevitable result of
the PDF format are also its weakness. The PDFs for Section 508 compliance, that a tags-only strategy is simply that content
very flexibility of PDF and the tremendous point should not be confused with the authors will ignore the issue entirely,
power of Acrobat make real accessibility question of functional accessibility. choose a different format, or simply
(also known as “usability”) so very, very “dumb-down” their documents. In all such
hard to accomplish. Content authors are rarely familiar with
cases, PDF loses.
PAGE 30 of 71 the requirements of successful accessibility
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX GOVERNMENT & ACCESSIBILITY The Canadian government specification via expensive, dysfunctional non-Adobe
National, state and local governments, as (WCAG priority 2) is much tougher! software typically maintained in school and
•Contents
well as non-US governments, increasingly college computer labs.
•Ten years of PDF Education & Accessibility
require their public document authors not
As a practical matter, the legal vehicle
•Masters of PDF only to work within accessibility standards To fulfill their mandate to serve the broad
for educational distribution of accessible
such as Section 508 - but be seen to do population, and to do so on ever tighter
•Security & accessibility copyrighted documents is the Chaffee
so. As they expand electronic document budgets, state educational systems need as-
•Design & creation Amendment, (17 USC § 121). However,
usage and web enablement for their sistive technology for electronic documents
the current suite of native Acrobat
•Acrobat best practice line-of- business processes, governments now. Actually, they needed it yesterday.
security features makes PDF unattractive
will increasingly favour solutions that Learning Disabled (LD) users represent
•Future of PDF to publishers as a “specialized format”
include accessibility as a core competency. at least 50 percent of the assistive tech-
per the terms of this Amendment.
Section 508, which has given Adobe the nology marketplace. There are tens of
This misstep is easily corrected with
sweats, is actually a pretty easy standard. thousands of LD students in the California
the addition of a single security setting
Community College system alone. For
- another opportunity to highlight Adobe’s
these users, PDF files are usable only
ADVERTISEMENT
Chess strategies Insurance documents Railroad equipment registration ��
�� Class schedules
College applications
Investment analyst rankings
Investment management prospecti
Real estate reports
Reprints
��
�� Risk management analyses
��
Commodity statistics Jet engine schematics
Copier manuals Legal briefs Robotic systems specifications ��
Adventure travel guides Course packs Legal code Semiconductor schematics � ��
Agronomic information Deal rooms Library books Sewing patterns � � � ��
Animal husbandry research Department store catalogs Management consulting proposals Sheet music
Architectural plans Divestiture documents Maps Software manuals ��
Auto repair manuals Drum playing instruction Market research Technical books ��
Automobile specifications Embedded control systems Medical device instructions Technical standards ��
Beer recipes E-zines Milk industry statistics Television listings
Tell-all autobiography Copyright 2003 FileOpen Systems, Inc. Adobe and
Bibles FDA submissions Newspapers
the Adobe logo are either registered trademarks or
Bills of lading Financial newsletters Petroleum exploration maps Tests trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the
Biotechnology analysis Financial reports Photography collections Textbooks United States and/or other countries.
Branding proposals Geographic Information Systems Physics journals Theological theses
Business school case studies Grant proposals Physics monographs Tout sheets
Business school rankings Health information Price lists Train schedules
Career guides Highway transportation statistics Private jet repair manuals Wind turbine schematics
Certification training guides Home building plans Pump schematics Wine industry reports
PAGE 31 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX commitment to accessibility, and a boon • Integrate seamlessly with annotations, that should not mean that resolving the
to all publishers that ever wanted to sell a scripts or tagged PDF, and at a low level needs of the blind is the only reasonable
•Contents
book into the education marketplace. with Acrobat controls to provide full- goal in promoting document accessibility.
•Ten years of PDF spectrum accessibility and high-order
California’s AB 422, passed in 1999, In attempting to address the needs of
•Masters of PDF usability
increased the pressure on textbook and the blind, whose tireless work produced
•Security & accessibility other publishers by requiring them to • Deliver screen-reader integration and Section 508 in the first place, Adobe aimed
provide electronic versions of their publica- available advanced functions (on-board their solution at a strictly legal interpreta-
tions for disabled users to California’s state dictionary and special security privileges tion of the code, which fundamentally
•Acrobat best practice to support annotations, etc.)
and community college systems. Three misses the point for blind and non-blind
•Future of PDF years after this law was passed, public Since annotation functions are important alike. It is this: Ultimately, usability is the
education institutions are still scanning to Learning Disabled users, the addition point at which accessibility claims are
books and converting the images to KESI of viable assistive technology to Acrobat sorted from accessibility facts.
format for use with the expensive Kurzweil enhances the likelihood that LD users will
Reader when they could be simply distrib- access educational resources in order to
uting PDF files provided by the publisher become licensees of “full version” Acrobat
ADVERTISEMENT
and saving everyone a lot of time, money to gain access to annotation capabilities.
and trouble. Adobe can make a real difference to 70
percent of assistive technology users and
Accessibility for the Masses
simultaneously accomplish a lot more than
By developing text-to-speech (TTS) as a just protect their government marketplace.
core function within the Acrobat product PDF isn’t just some random format, you
family, Adobe could actually begin to know! It’s got clout!
meet the needs of the vast majority of the
CONCLUSION
assistive technology marketplace without
Blind users represent the greatest techni-
the structural inadequacies and enforced
cal challenge for electronic document
brain-damage of the tags-only approach.
accessibility. This user population keeps
Advanced TTS implementation in Acrobat
the assistive technology vendors honest,
could:
because the blind understand usability in a
• Revolutionize accessibility to any PDF way that one can only imagine by turning
PAGE 32 of 71 file via a simple click-to-speak metaphor off the monitor and still trying to work. But
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Only the narrowest of interpretations experienced staff use best-of-breed hardware,
would conclude that Section 508 defines software and workflow techniques to convert,
•Contents
accessibility as making all the text on the enhance and manage electronic documents
•Ten years of PDF page available to assistive technology. If for Fortune 500 companies, publishers,
•Masters of PDF Adobe persists in the tags-only strategy, government agencies and international
organizations needing to improve their organizations.
accessibility profile will tend to opt for
•Design & creation cost- effective usability (HTML) over ELCOMSOFT FOUND *NOT
•Acrobat best practice expensive uncertainty (PDF). Adobe GUILTY* ON DMCA CHARGES
cannot afford that. when word came early today that the
•Future of PDF California jury finds no “willful intent” to jury had reached a verdict in the case. He
Accessibility solely via the tags paradigm violate U.S. Copyright law told Planet PDF by telephone today that
was a misstep in the right direction. That By Kurt Foss, Planet PDF Editor both Dmitry Sklyarov and Vladimir Katalov
“progress” means little in the current or returned to Moscow at the end of their
After a two-week court trial that many
foreseeable accessibility marketplace. The testimony last week. “I’m very excited,”
considered a landmark copyright case and
perception will remain that PDF is not Katalov said shortly after hearing the ‘Not
the first criminal indictment under the
particularly accessible because into the Guilty’ verdict, which brings to an end an
controversial Digital Millennium Copyright
foreseeable future, only a small percent- ordeal that with the arrest of Sklyarov by
Act (DMCA), a jury in the U.S. District
age of PDF files will include usable tags. the FBI in Las Vegas a year and a half ago, a
Court of Northern California has found
To achieve both short-term success and story we were the first to report. Katalov
ElcomSoft Co. Ltd. (www.elcomsoft.com)
protect long-term viability, Adobe should admits – like Sklyarov almost a year ago
of Moscow, Russia not guilty on all charges
seriously consider the Accessibility for the – that he’s now eager to return home to
brought by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Masses strategy for version 6.1. Moscow to tend to running his software
Alexander Katalov, CEO of ElcomSoft, company after “spending more time in
Duff Johnson is founder, president and CEO
[photo below] was the only company the U.S. than in Russia” last year while
of Document Solutions, Inc. (www.document-
representative still in San Jose the various stages of the legal process
solutions.com), one of the first electronic
document service bureaus centered on PDF unfolded. He plans to fly home on Monday
technology. DSI has provided state-of-the- now that there’s no need to consider an
art paper to PDF conversions and other appeal, a decision the company would
advanced PDF services since 1996. Focused have faced had the verdict gone against
on application requirements, DSI’s large, them. Presumably with the conclusion
PAGE 33 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX of the trial, the original charges against Asked whether he plans to return to the in particular the Electronic Frontier
Sklyarov will be officially dropped, part U.S. in the future – without the indictment Foundation (EFF) – regarding the “fair
•Contents
of an agreement reached in exchange compelling him to travel – Katalov says use” rights of owners of legally purchased
•Ten years of PDF for his testimony in the case. While it he’d like to “but it’s up to the U.S. eBooks.
•Masters of PDF had been widely reported that Sklyarov Department of State whether I can get a
would be the government’s star witness, visa.” The start of the trial was delayed
prosecutor’s chose not to call him to testify for a second time a few months ago when
•Design & creation in person despite his presence. Instead, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow denied visa
•Acrobat best practice they showed a videotaped deposition from applications for both Katalov and Sklyarov
a year earlier; Sklyarov eventually took to attend the trial.
•Future of PDF
the stand when called by defense attorney
According to an Associated Press
Jospeh Burton of Duane Morris LLP in San
report on today’s verdict, jurors were
Francisco. “Jury foreman Dennis Strader said the
sympathetic to an argument raised by
ElcomSoft and its supporters – including argument made a big impact on the jurors,
ADVERTISEMENT
��

��
��

��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��

��
��
��
www.activePDF.com
© 2003 activePDF, Inc. All rights reserved. "activePDF", "It's everybody's PDF", "Leading the iPaper Revolution" and the activePDF logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of activePDF, Inc.
PAGE 34 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX who asked U.S. District Judge Ronald M. development of the AEBPR program. the letter’s author. In the letter, the sniper
Whyte to clarify the ‘fair use’ definition ElcomSoft did stop selling the product, but demands a $10 million dollar ransom
•Contents
shortly after deliberations began. ‘Under the government chose to continue with and explains how that money should be
•Ten years of PDF the eBook formats, you have no rights the matter even after Adobe withdrew its delivered – deposited in a specific, stolen
•Masters of PDF at all, and the jury had trouble with that support for Sklyarov’s prosecution. credit card account. Certain personally
concept,’ said Strader.” identifying details are blacked out in the
WASHINGTON POST’S PDF file.
•Design & creation The criminal charges in the case resulted
SCANNED-TO-PDF SNIPER
from ElcomSoft’s development and sales
•Acrobat best practice LETTER MORE REVEALING THAN
of a software product called “Advanced
INTENDED
•Future of PDF eBook Processor”
As reported earlier today, The Washington

Post published a scanned-to-PDF version
of a handwritten letter left at the scene
of one of the recent sniper shootings, However, as a sharp-eyed Planet PDF
allegedly written by the killers and intended reader has pointed out to us in an email
for the police. message, the creators of the scanned PDF
– it’s unclear whether it was produced at
the newspaper or elsewhere – have them-
that, according to the company’s original
selves revealed more information than they
press release issued on June 22, 2001,
intended.
“makes it easy to remove both password
encryption and usage restrictions from
Adobe Acrobat PDF files and eBooks.”
Adobe Systems’ Anti-Piracy team issued
a cease-and-desist order demanding that The Post published the downloadable
ElcomSoft stop selling the product because version of the “Ashland Sniper letter”
it allegedly violated the DMCA; Sklyarov to illustrate its article explaining how
was arrested July 16, 2001 when he was police were able to decipher additional,
in the U.S. presenting his research into significant information from both revealed Anyone using the full commercial version
PDF security, which in part led to the and unintended clues communicated by of Adobe Acrobat software (NOT the
PAGE 35 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX free Acrobat Reader) to display the PDF In pointing out the Post’s blunder, our alert from Appligent – that works with Adobe
can very easily remove the blacked-out tipster adds “How long will the media keep Acrobat for this exact situation. Many
•Contents
areas intended to hide certain details. shooting itself in the foot this way. The file government agencies commonly use
•Ten years of PDF The PDF is simply an image file to which is not even protected in any way.” The it to redact, or extract, certain bits of
•Masters of PDF an added layer of black has been added. comment is a reference to a similar incident information from private documents
By choosing Acrobat’s TouchUp Object we reported a couple years ago in an article so they can be made publicly available.
Tool, then selecting a particular section titled “PDF Secrets Revealed,” in which Redax actually removes the selected
•Design & creation of the darkened area, one can easily drag we showed how The New York Times text (including text within a graphic) and
•Acrobat best practice the overlay away from the text it is meant had inadvertently revealed the identities of replaces it with meaningless blocks; The
to protect, clearly revealing details such several CIA agents who were named in a redacted information is “permanently
•Future of PDF
as the name and account number of the previously secret document the newspaper removed from the PDF stream,” according
person whose credit card the snipers were had obtained and later published. to Appligent.
attempting to use to stash their ransom
As we noted at the time, there is
cash.
commercial software available – Redax
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 36 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX technical manuals etc.) over electronic mail as the “barriers to entry” for the graphic
distribution networks. These documents arts continued to fall - a process that began
•Contents DESIGN & CREATION
could be viewed on any machine and any with the emergence of desktop publishing
•Ten years of PDF selected document could be printed locally. in the 1980s and continues to this day.
•Masters of PDF This capability would truly change the way
THE PDF/X SOLUTION PDF 1.2 was released in 1996 in the form
information is managed.” And indeed it did.
•Security & accessibility By Craig Kirkwood of Acrobat 3. It was the first prepress savvy
•Design & creation Within a decade, PDF emerged trium- incarnation of the format and included
The sad truth about PDF is that it has
phant. It had conquered the enterprise, support for the CMYK color space, spot
•Acrobat best practice emerged as a de facto standard for the
embellished the Web and re-invented colors, halftone functions and overprint
exchange of documents across platforms
•Future of PDF the electronic form. It also seduced the instructions. This was a big step forward
and devices. What a tremendous task that
prepress market but not without claims and within a couple of years, third party
is: a single format suitable for all occasions,
that that particular bride, if you’ll excuse vendors such as Enfocus had begun to rally
all applications and all computers, regard-
the metaphor, was taken by force. The to the prepress cause with plug-ins and
less of industry or market. The problem
prepress industry felt compromised. How stand-alone products that helped bureaus
is, it’s not always suitable. Like any tool
could they accept a file format which
which attempts to be universal, there are ADVERTISEMENT
their well-informed staff were unable to
shortcomings when it comes to the special-
edit and “improve” prior to processing?
ist requirements of particular groups. In the
Anyone could build a PDF but how could
case of PDF, that group is prepress.
they be sure it was correctly distilled; with
When the venerable John Warnock a four-plate color space; with the correct
first conceived the idea of “Interchange image resolution; using Postscript fonts? Of
Postscript” in his now famous 1991 course, they couldn’t...
Camelot white paper, it was about
As PDF gained momentum, the printing
document distribution or what we now
and graphic arts industries became increas-
call “printing on demand”. It was not so
ingly frustrated with the lack of standards
much about either reading on-screen or
in document integrity despite the quite
about the specific commercial needs of
stringent requirements of raster image
publishers. As Warnock wrote: “Imagine
processors used with Imagesetting equip-
being able to send full text and graphics,
ment and, later, computer-to-plate sys-
documents (newspapers, magazine articles,
PAGE 37 of 71 tems. Indeed, this frustration grew as fast
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX and publishers ensure PDF integrity before consortium requested the development The result was PDF/X-1, approved as an
going through the lengthy process of creat- of a PDF-based standard for the printing American national standard in 1999.
•Contents
ing film. But this was only satisfactory to a industry designed to transcend some of the
•Ten years of PDF PDF/X-1 was based on PDF 1.2 but it
point. What was needed was a standard. problems the industry was facing due to file
included additions such as support for ICC
•Masters of PDF inconsistencies.
In the late 1990s a US industry consortium color profiles, bleed and definitions, and a
•Security & accessibility gathered to find a solution to this increas- Specifically, DDAP and the NAA were system for establishing whether a file has
•Design & creation ing problem. The first step was a formal concerned with the problem of receiving already been trapped. While PDF/X-1 was
approach by the Newspapers Association and processing display advertising for regarded as a success, CGATS believed
of America (NAA) and the Digital Delivery newspapers and magazines. After all, an industry-wide standard should be
•Future of PDF of Advertising for Publication organisation ensuring both publishers and advertisers developed rather than one confined to
(DDAP) to the US Committee for Graphic work to the same system would shave digital advertising as the same issues af-
Arts Technical Standards (CGATS), which millions off the cost of receiving, process- fect all aspects of printing and publishing,
manages standards for the US graphic ing and proofing advertising - particularly regardless of the content. The result was
arts industry on behalf of ANSI. The in the face of falling advertising revenue. ISO 15930-1:200, an international stand-
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 38 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX ard which included both an application PDF/X is a Big Step Forward for printing of the product design as well, with many
standard and a file format specification: and prepress but it’s still not a simple menu items having been removed or
•Contents
PDF/X-1a. solution. Various trade groups and larger consolidated to result in a clean, intuitive
•Ten years of PDF publishers such as Time Warner, for interface in the final product.
PDF/X-1a is actually a subset of the PDF
•Masters of PDF example, are building on the PDF/X
specification which means any PDF reader In our humble opinion, this offering
standard with specifications unique to
•Security & accessibility can open and display a PDF/X-1a file and has made a quantum leap forward in
their publication. There is also another
•Design & creation any PDF production device can process a terms of usability. Significantly, the Help
variation, PDF/X-3, which has been defined
PDF/X-1a file. Of course, only PDF/X-1a- system is no longer PDF-based, and the
•Acrobat best practice to include color management metadata.
compliant devices can reliably render the change facilitates concurrent browsing or
With an international standard in place,
•Future of PDF result. manipulation of PDFs without the need to
however, the industry has at last got a solid
switch back and forth between documents.
Suppliers are required to specify what framework in place and the days of flaky
In addition, the new model incorporates
the PDF/X file has been prepared for. PDF files with RGB color spaces are finally
a ridiculously user-friendly “How To...”
In the US, for example, printers would nearing an end.
interface for the most frequently asked
typically require the file to be prepared
questions.
for SWOP, a statement which would imply A FIRST LOOK AT ADOBE READER 6
that the file will be fully PDF/X compliant Enter: the vanguard of Acrobat’s new How does the update affect Accessibility in
but optimized for that particular printing product line PDF?
environment: a nominal 133 lpi screen,
By Dan Shea, Planet PDF For the visually-impaired, there is now a
with specified ink colors and dot gain,
readily accessible, built-in screen reader
which in turn implies that CT scans should Here we go again! It’s been a while, but
that can be controlled by simple menu
normally be saved at between 200 and 270 as of today, we now have an official first
commands (View > Read Out Loud)
pixels per inch. An additional parameter look at Adobe’s brand-new PDF viewer.
and hotkey combinations. As an added
provides for metadata unique to the When you open the newly renamed Adobe
bonus, the Document menu now inclides
publication the document is being printed Reader for the first time, likely one of
an Accessibility Quick Check command,
for. This would be specified by the designer the first things that you will notice is the
which will summarize the active docu-
or publisher and addresses specification revamped interface. For one thing, there
ment’s compliance to the famous Section
such as trim sizes and bleed, and the are noticeably fewer icons on the screen,
508.
precise resolution to be used for LW scans and those that do appear are larger and
etc. clearer than ever before. This philosophy Another significant advance is the Search
that “Less is more” permeates the rest pane, which allows for full text searching
PAGE 39 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX of either individual documents or even What about Adobe eBook Reader? the Planet PDF community. It’s in part a
PDF archives without the need for pre- Another point to note – and perhaps response to feedback on an earlier item
•Contents
defined index files such as those created by one reason for the name change – is that by another CP columnist that suggested
•Ten years of PDF Catalog. designers have mixed emotions among
Adobe Reader is more than just the new
•Masters of PDF version of Acrobat Reader: it is in fact the Adobe Acrobat and PDF. As Pfiffner puts it:
In addition, the new offering has also
synthesis of Acrobat Reader and the short- “They know they have to use it, but often
•Security & accessibility streamlined options for the selection and
lived eBook Reader. As such, it includes they see it as a threat to their livelihoods.”
•Design & creation extraction of PDF content. Along with
allowing users to save out as plain text several useful eBook-specific features such The reason, she says, is that “the general
•Acrobat best practice as the My Bookshelf function, which allows
(Previously reserved for the full version), perception is that PDF cuts designers out
•Future of PDF the updated Select Image Tool now users to readily access a list of commonly of the process.”
automatically selects complete image used PDF documents or eBooks without
the need to build a separate archive. Personally, I find this line of thinking quite
objects with a single click. Those nostalgic
astounding, on a number of levels. First,
for the old method can still make manual
Key Differences as they say, ‘consider the source.’ By that I
selections using the new Snapshot Tool.
Don’t be fooled by the simplified interface, mean the source of the technology: Adobe
ADVERTISEMENT however, as Adobe Reader 6 is certainly Systems, widely recognized as *the* most
more feature-rich than it’s predecessors. significant producer of software for the
graphics and design community. It’s hard to
PDF AS A NECESSARY EVIL? fathom a company whose customer base
We recently featured a promotional for its various products has consisted of the
contest for the book “Inside the Publishing exact type of creative professionals – many
Revolution: The Adobe Story” by Pamela of them designers and graphic artists – de-
Pfiffner, published by Peachpit Press. In liberately trying to alienate this audience.
her day job, Pfiffner works as the editor- Logic and good business sense dictate that
in-chief of the popular CreativePro Web Adobe would more likely seek to develop
site where, among her other duties, complementary products. One can only
she occasionally comments on graphics- presume, since PDF-generation capabilities
oriented news and events. are now part of most of the company’s
graphics products, that they view PDF as
Her current editorial “Can Designers Learn meaningful and relevant to customers using
to Love PDF?” is particularly relevant to its other graphics tools.
PAGE 40 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX The problem here, as Pfiffner points out, situations, then there’s no hard and fast rule of and complement to the principles of
seems to be a misunderstanding of the that says one format is always the right one. design, seems to me.
•Contents
product. In that sense, add it to the list. Each has its merits and its shortcomings.
•Ten years of PDF Last, with the ever-increasing acceptance
What percentage of people, 10 years Weigh them, make a decision ... if you must.
of PDF, within not the least of professional
•Masters of PDF since the product family was launched, still
On the debit side of the ledger for HTML, arenas the publishing world, any designer
don’t grasp the difference between the
•Security & accessibility at least as perceived by people skilled today who chooses to ignore the potential
commercial Acrobat product and the freely
•Design & creation in print-oriented design, is the ongoing applications of PDF only limits themselves
downloadable Acrobat Reader? Or the
challenge of preserving in HTML the and for some, also their future career
•Acrobat best practice product name from the *company* name,
exact look and feel intentionally created opportunities.
for that matter? Far too many, judging
•Future of PDF by a knowledgeable designer. Simply
by the frequent, inaccurate references Pfiffner concludes that the fault here lies
too many uncontrollable variables - still
we still see and hear. That aside, Acrobat to a great extent with Adobe marketing, a
true today, but even worse the time this
(and most certainly not the free Reader) group that over the years has been flogged
debate peaked. And as anyone who has
should never be thought of as a design for any number of shortcomings, both
worked much with PDF knows by now,
tool – at least in terms of being useful in perceived and real. She says “Adobe needs
that’s where PDF shines. It preserves
the authoring process. But to leap from to tweak its marketing strategy so that
the intelligent decisions made by skilled
that to a conclusion that Acrobat – and designers better understand the role PDF
designers so that readers will perceive the
PDF, by affiliation – is in any way a threat plays.”
information in the exact manner originally
seems a jump worthy of ... dare I say, a
intended. It may be an inexact science or At the same time, working in a field as
trained acrobat. While not a design tool, it’s
skill, but there’s a world of evidence and competitive as publishing, any designers
definitely a tool.
experience that supports the notion that (and companies employing designers)
One discussion we’ve fortunately begun to presentation (design) plays a key role in looking to have a richer and more valuable
hear less of in the days of Acrobat 5 is the comprehension of information. toolbox than others in the field would be
debate about ‘HTML or PDF,’ a narrow- well advised not to sit back and wait for the
If design didn’t matter, we wouldn’t need
minded argument that once presumed one maligned Adobe Marketeers to get around
PDF, or at least not for fidelity’s sake. But if
had to choose between the two formats for to dispensing such enlightenment.
you buy into the notion that communication
Web publishing. As we’ve opined before,
results in part from the conscious, Read Pfiffner’s column and, if you have an
there’s not really much debate here – and
deliberate intentions of a design-oriented opinion, join us in the PDF-Talkback section
if there is, the answer is ‘both.’ But if you
individual or staff, then viewing PDF as a of the Planet PDF Forum to have a pow-
really need to make a choice for certain
PAGE 41 of 71 threat seems unjustifiable. It’s an extension wow on this topic.
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX ADOBE PACIFIC’S NICK HODGE creating files intended to be read on- for Windows, but not for the mac version).
•Contents ON ‘THE MAKING OF GOOD screen such as the case when making a “It’s evil. Those working in graphic arts
PDFS’ presentation at a conference. Of course, should avoid it at all costs!” says Hodge,
•Ten years of PDF this is not necessarily a homogeneous not so much because it’s a bad product but
Certain principles to keep in mind
•Masters of PDF group – indeed the needs of those creating because it was designed for applications
By Craig Kirkwood, Planet PDF Graphic Arts Editor
documents to be laser printed are not the that cannot generate PostScript - a species
At the recent Open Publish conference same as those intended for the Web – but which is all but extinct.
•Design & creation in Sydney, Adobe Asia-Pacific’s resident they do share a condition that the files will
Hodge recommends avoiding PDFWriter
•Acrobat best practice PDF Master, Nick Hodge, spoke at length not (necessarily) be sent to a commercial
because it has a number of inherent
of the need to create what he calls “good raster image processor (RIP) such as
•Future of PDF problems. To begin with, key publishing
PDFs” in both the enterprise and pre-press that used in a pre-press imagesetter or a
applications such as PageMaker and
environments. He identified a number of computer-to-plate printer.
QuarkXPress function very poorly with it,
dos and don’ts that can be applied to all
Graphic arts or pre-press users are those creating less than optimum results. There
Acrobat users – with some issues being
intending to take the file to be offset or is also no CMYK support, as required for
more critical than others, according to the
digitally printed or those working in a offset printing, and images are compressed
context.
pre-press bureau or printing environment to a way too low 72 DPI. Finally, vector
Hodge believes some simple principles themselves. Such users have much more images such as EPS files display and print
should be adhered to regardless of the rigorous requirements of their files. While very poorly becoming “green and slimy,”
working environment. “While enterprise there are a number of 3rd-party products says Hodge.
users typically demand less of PDFs than available to ensure the “preflight” integrity
those working in graphic arts and pre- of PDFs that doesn’t diminish the necessity The Distiller
press, it’s still important to ensure the to ensure files are in good shape before Hodge believes that mastering the Distiller,
integrity of the file,” says Hodge. “The preflighting. specifically the Job Options settings, is the
principles of creating good PDFs remain key to creating good PDFs. “Once you’re
the same regardless of the domain.” PDFWriter is Evil! comfortable inside the Acrobat Distiller
Despite the one-step convenience, Job Options dialog box you’re 90 percent
Enterprise vs. Pre-press even enterprise users should avoid of the way there,” he says. Planet PDF
By “enterprise users” we mean those using the PDFWriter application which, until regularly publishes tips and tricks regarding
Acrobat for predominantly document recently, shipped with Acrobat (it’s still Distiller options and other aspects of
exchange or archival purposes or those available as a custom install with Acrobat 5
PAGE 42 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX PDF creation, but here are some of the quite so typical. Color management, for of the color gamut of your monitor. There’s
important settings to become familiar with: example, when correctly used throughout a lot to say on this subject, but there are
•Contents
the production process, will generate some good resources online, notably
•Ten years of PDF First of all the default Job Options available
more predictable results than the effective Adobe’s Color and Color Management
in Acrobat 4 and 5 are a great start and
•Masters of PDF guess work that follows the use of an technical guides.
satisfy the needs of most according to the
uncalibrated monitor and incorrect color
•Security & accessibility particular task at hand. That is, selecting the Font embedding is another issue that
space translation.
•Design & creation “Print” Job Option will compress images Hodge highlighted during his presentation.
and embed fonts in order to create an Actually, Acrobat is intended to permit “soft Those new to the PDF creation process
optimum file for printing to a laser printer. proofing” on screen; that is, the ability to may assume that subsetting fonts would
•Future of PDF Likewise, the “Press” Job Option setting confidently assess the results of a printed produce an inferior results. Not so says
will apply a minimum of image compression file by viewing the PDF on your monitor. Hodge, subsetting forces the client machine
and maximize the results for offset printing. But creating a reliable on-screen experience to use embedded fonts rather than use
requires consistency of profiling across local systems fonts. Given the wide variance
There are, however, a lot of variables that
devices, including the correct assessment among fonts – even between fonts with
can be employed when conditions are not
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 43 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX the same name, from the same foundry selected Job Options. Ensuring “good technologies, the reality is, of course, that
– it’s best to avoid local fonts in pre-press PostScript” then is the other factor in important U.S. government documents
•Contents
environments. determining good PDF and, according to like the Declaration of Independence
•Ten years of PDF Hodge, this can be achieved by ensuring were created and existed only on paper
•Masters of PDF Two Step you have the current version of the Adobe (or another analog storage method for
Hodge also pointed out that creating PostScript Driver installed. preservation purposes) for most of the
a PDF is actually a two-stage process country’s history.
•Design & creation At the time of writing, Adobe is
despite the fact that it typically occurs as
recommending AdobePS 8.5.1 or later. The It wasn’t until the presidency of Bill Clinton
•Acrobat best practice just one action. That is, when you print
Acrobat 5.0 CD includes version 8.7.2 and – coincidentally rather than intentionally
to the Acrobat Distiller, the first thing
•Future of PDF the Acrobat 4 CD includes 8.5.1. If you’re – that the federal government began to get
that happens is a PostScript file is created.
running a Mac, particularly if you work serious about the advantages of digitized
The Distiller is, in fact, a PostScript RIP;
with QuarkXPress, it would pay to take a documents and records. Legislation such as
and PostScript, just to be clear, is a page-
look at Adobe’s support files regarding the the Paperwork Elimination Act have helped
description language as opposed to PDF,
installation of the PostScript Printer Driver to focus government agencies on the
which is a file format.
as you’ll need the Virtual Printer plug-in to importance of harnessing new technologies,
The creation of the PDF file is actually obtain best results. including Adobe Acrobat and PDF, to
the second phase of the process. Thus, become more efficient and effective.
There’s much more to creating optimum
while most users create the PostScript
PDFs than we can cover here, but take a While we tend to think most often about
and PDF at the same time, an alternative
look at our Tips and Tricks section, Shlomo the conversion of ongoing services such as
workflow is to create the PostScript
Perets’ “PDF Best Practices” series and the IRS’ tax forms or the FDA’s streamlined
file, then create PDFs according to the
the Planet PDF Forum for sound advice. drug approval procedures, there are other
output requirements. Thus a PDF can be
Adobe’s support pages and expert center agencies charged with digitally preserving
created for press, print or Web from a
are also great resources. the country’s past.
single PostScript file by merely dragging
and dropping the PostScript file onto the A new Web site – part of a new initiative
PORTABLE HISTORY
Distiller with the appropriate Job Options called “Our Documents: A National
set for the desired output. Initiative on American History, Civics, and
Aside from yesterday’s Weblog entry that Service” announced by Pres. George W.
The integrity of the final PDF is thus a
speculated on the likes of Thomas Jefferson Bush on September 17 – is a great example
product of both the PostScript data and
having access to today’s portable document of these latter efforts.
PAGE 44 of 71 the Distillation process according to the
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX • Learn More About this Document: unity, and our commitment as a nation to
Background on the particular historical continue our work toward forming ‘a more
•Contents
topic perfect union.’”
•Ten years of PDF
• View Larger Images of this Document: The site emphasizes the educational use
•Masters of PDF Zoom in and view larger images of these historic documents, and features
•Security & accessibility • Read the Transcript of this Document: appropriate resources designed to help
•Design & creation Easily read all of the text contained teachers integrate them into classroom
within the document projects and offering relevant educational
• Download Printer-friendly PDFs: High- competitions for students. The site links to
•Future of PDF
resolution, image-only PDFs (created NARA’s “Digital Classroom” project and
with Adobe Photoshop) formatted to to the National History Day site. Available
Each week the OurDocuments.gov print on standard 8-1/2-inch x 11-inch for download is a large, suitable-for-
site features three so-called “Milestone paper printing “Our Documents” poster, and an
Documents,” important historical records information kit, both in PDF.
intended to help users “relive defining The site features a list of 100 milestone ADVERTISEMENT
moments in our history.” Featured this documents, compiled by the National
week, for example, are the following: Archives and Records Administration
��
��
• President Andrew Jackson’s Message to (NARA), and which cover American history
from 1776 (Declaration of Independence) � ��
Congress ‘On Indian Removal’ (1830)
��
to 1965 (Voting Rights Act). According to
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ��
the site ... � ��
• Compromise of 1850 � ��
“The remaining milestone documents � ��
A thumbnail preview image and a brief � ��
are among the thousands of public laws,
description of each document is provided, ��
Supreme Court decisions, inaugural
along with a detailed citation that refer-
speeches, treaties, constitutional
ences the source of the information. The
amendments, and other documents that
particular document and the historical
have influenced the course of U.S. history.
incident and/or issue it represents can be
They have helped shape the national
further explored by following the provided
character, and they reflect our diversity, our
PAGE 45 of 71 links, offering the following options:
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX • Topic- and Page-Level Orientation: When converting a book to a single PDF,
•Contents
ACROBAT improving pagination to create easier- the title will typically be the book title.
BEST PRACTICE to-read page units; identifying the Converting a book to separate, cross-
•Ten years of PDF current page, topic or location through linked PDFs (one for each chapter) enables
•Masters of PDF running headers, page labels or topic- more precision, as each chapter can have a
PDF BEST PRACTICES #6:
specific bookmarks. specific title.
•Security & accessibility HELPING READER ORIENTATION
• Library-Level Orientation: showing Following are some guidelines for docu-
•Design & creation Location pinpointers can keep users from
the relation of the current PDF to ment titles:
•Acrobat best practice being ‘lost in Hyperspace’
other PDFs in the sa me document set
By Shlomo Perets of MicroType through roadmaps or cross-file book-
•Future of PDF
When viewing PDF files, readers often marks.
move between different parts of the same Advanced interactive items and graphic
PDF document or between different aids can provide additional help where
documents, following links, bookmarks or applicable. All of these techniques help to • The title identifies the document, and
Find/Search functions. prevent the “lost in hyperspace” problem, should be consistent with the document
Providing information on the current improving the reading experience and content/purpose.
document and on the location within the making it less demanding. • When converting a book to separate
document helps to reduce reader disori- PDFs, titles may be identical to the
Document-Level Orientation
entation and facilitates efficient access to chapter titles, or they may also include
TITLE
information. the book/collection name in short form
A descriptive document title is very helpful, (making it easier to identify items when
This can be accomplished through a com- and can be displayed in the title bar at all the Search Results list includes multiple
bination of items discussed in this article, times (enclosed in square brackets). Having hits).
including the following: a unique, meaningful title is also important
• Avoid standard opening phrases; a
• Document-Level Orientation: when using the Search function. Title and
unique beginning will make the titles
Document-Level Orientation: including other metadata fields are also used by web
easier to identify when titles are listed
a document title, metadata, using an search engines; guidelines should be set for
together in the Search Results list.
appropriate opening state and cross-file these accordingly. The title may be spoken
by text-to-speech engines (or screen • Titles must be unambiguous and
bookmarks.
readers). meaningful out of context. Note that
PAGE 46 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX when a PDF is viewed through a web The shortcut for this in both versions is • If the PDF files are to be displayed in
browser plug-in, its title is not displayed Control+D. Acrobat/Reader 5, activate the “Display
•Contents
in the browser’s title bar. A top-level Document Title” setting.
•Ten years of PDF If supported with your authoring applica-
bookmark can be used to fill this gap; • IF the PDF files may also be displayed
tion, it is better to specify the title in the
•Masters of PDF bookmarks for main chapters/sections in earlier releases of Acrobat/Reader,
source file (such as Word or FrameMaker),
should be nested under this bookmark, activate the “Resize Window to Initial
•Security & accessibility and have it carried over to the PDF auto-
initially expanded. Page” - this will have a resizing effect
•Design & creation matically.
To set the document title: as well as displaying the title in the title
•Acrobat best practice To display the title in the title bar: bar.
In Acrobat 5: File > Document
•Future of PDF Properties, Summary. Acrobat 4: File > Document Info > Open Additional Fields: In addition to Title,
Info, and specify “Resize Window To Initial Acrobat’s standard metadata fields include
In Acrobat 4: File > Document Info > Page”. the Subject, Author and Keywords fields
General. (blank unless populated).
Acrobat 5: File > Document Properties
> Open Options, Window Options.
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 47 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX • Depending on page design and content, of font and size, and have additional space
a default zoom level may be useful, such above and below.
•Contents
as Fit Page, Fit Width or 100%.
•Ten years of PDF TOPIC-SPECIFIC BOOKMARKS
• In some cases, especially when the
•Masters of PDF same source is used for print and
•Security & accessibility viewing, the first page of the document
is not necessarily the best place for the
PDF to open at. For instance, opening
•Acrobat best practice Even though these were primarily intended
directly at the table of contents may be
to be used by Acrobat Search (and are
•Future of PDF more helpful than front-matter items
also used by some web search engines),
(that are required when the document
they may be useful for your readers. The
is printed, but typically have to be
Document Summary is easily accessible in
skipped when opening the PDF).
Acrobat/Reader 4 and 5 through a button
above the vertical scrolling bar (also avail- • If magnification and page layout are
able when PDFs are displayed in a web specified to be “Default,” settings
browser). Establish guidelines relevant to specified in local preferences are used.
your types of documents and apply consist- These are effective in the specific
ently. computer only and can be set through
Bookmarks are very important in enabling
Edit > Preferences > General, Display
OPENING STATE the user to visualize document structure,
tab (in Acrobat 4: File > Preferences);
• The default opening page and zoom and were discussed in depth in a previous
Default Page Layout and Default Zoom.
of your PDF should display enough PDF Best Practices column. Bookmarks
information to indicate at a glance what Topic and Page Level Orientation also indicate the currently viewed section
the document is about. HEADINGS in the document (in Acrobat 5 with an
Headings, in styles corresponding to the emphasized page-like icon for and in
• Initial display of the PDF should gener-
hierarchy of topics, significantly help the Acrobat 4, a bold bookmark). For this
ally include bookmarks. In some graph-
fast scanning of pages when looking for feature to be effective, bookmarks for
ics-intensive PDFs, thumbnails may be
information. To be effective, they must be main sections should be initially expanded;
preferable as the default opening mode.
distinct from the body of the text in terms if all major sections are collapsed under
a top-level bookmark (as is the case with
PAGE 48 of 71 Acrobat 5 Help PDF, under “Contents”),
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX only that bookmark is initially emphasized, on-screen orientation than headers, so PAGE LABELS
rendering this feature useless. topic-specific information should be placed Page labels are useful when trying to access
•Contents
in headers, while the document name can a specific page by its printed page number,
•Ten years of PDF PAGE HEADERS
be placed in the footer. and they are important when there are
Page headers are very useful as a way to
•Masters of PDF discrepancies between the printed page
keep readers informed as to where they In documents optimized for on-screen
number and the sequential page number
•Security & accessibility are. Even if the document title is set to reading, unless the anticipated primary use
used in Acrobat to access pages or display
•Design & creation show the specific chapter, readers benefit is through a web browser, it is possible
page number. Page labels are especially
from a running header listing the specific to add printable information that is not
•Acrobat best practice important in the case of chapter number-
topic being discussed in the current page, displayed on-screen using form fields (for
ing (e.g. 3-1,3-2,3-3), as no fixed offset
•Future of PDF especially in reference-type PDFs, where instance, so that the document title is
between the printed and sequential page
links are frequently activated. This running printed in the header).
number could be deduced here, and when
header could list the text of lower-level
SINGLE-SIDED PAGINATION having to access a specific page in the PDF
headings, or be a dictionary-style, “from-
On-screen, readers typically view one page by its print-related number, one has to
to” header. Footers are less efficient for
at a time. Critical information must there- resort to trial and error.
ADVERTISEMENT fore appear on every page in a consistent
Page labels, when specified, are displayed
location. Single-sided pagination where
(Acrobat 4 or higher) in the status bar (in
there is no difference between the location
front of the page number), when dragging
of header information (including page num-
the vertical scrolling bar, and when thumb-
bers) on left and right pages is preferable.
nails are displayed. Go To Page and Print
Blank left pages at the end of a chapter,
dialog boxes support page labels.
forcing the next chapter to start on a right
page, may be required in a print-optimized Page labels can be defined automatically by
PDF, but cause a disturbance on-screen. the authoring application, through add-ons,
or manually in Acrobat (Document >
Double-sided pagination is important only
Number Pages).
when the primary anticipated use of the
PDF is printing on a duplex printer, so that PAGE BREAKS
the headers and page numbers appear on When content is displayed in HTML
the outer edge of the page, and the first browsers, there are no pages and the
page of a new chapter is on the right. screen is a continuous scroll, from start to
PAGE 49 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX end. In PDFs, however, there are inevitably of Reflow, Find and Search functions (all of should be on view with at least one or
page breaks (unless content is arranged in which do not work across page bounda- two of the items, even if the list is long
•Contents
a set of inter-linked single-page files, not ries). Likewise, when individual pages and splits between pages.
•Ten years of PDF exceeding the maximum PDF page height are printed on demand or if structured • Short code fragments should never be
•Masters of PDF of 200 inches). bookmarks are used to print a topic, the split between pages.
results are more meaningful if pages do not
•Security & accessibility Awkward page breaks make reading more • A series of short items that work as a
start with “leftovers” from previous topics,
•Design & creation difficult. The way content is split between group should not be split.
that run out-of-context.
pages may force readers to take extra • If the document has very long para-
steps to identify the topic being discussed. To minimize the negative impact of page graphs, consider splitting these into
•Future of PDF Meaningful page breaks, on the other breaks, follow these guidelines: shorter paragraphs.
hand, make the text easier to understand
• Headings that start a new topic and Appropriate line breaks or word breaks
and follow, and support fast and efficient
fall towards the end of the page (even may also improve reading:
browsing.
when there are a few lines of text on
• Tightly-related words should be kept
Guidelines for page breaks in PDFs are not that topic on the same page) should be
together on the same line - such as
different in principle from those for printed moved to the following page.
values and measurement units, or units
publications. But with PDFs designed with • Headings of all levels should always be followed by a number (e.g. “Figure
the screen as the primary destination you tied to the following paragraph. 14”).
may even have more flexibility since trying
• If you can fit an entire topic a single • Hyphenation should be used minimally
to condense content on fewer pages due
page, do it, even if this means editing (except in narrow table columns), as it
to printing costs is not an issue. In fact,
text or graphics to squeeze it in. And disrupts reading.
generous white space is beneficial in PDFs,
if this means that there is extra white
especially as on-screen pages are usually • The varying spaces between words
space on the previous page, consider
perceived as being more crowded than when text is aligned on both sides of
your user who is gaining both a bonus
they actually are. the page may also disturb reading; use
“breathing” of white space and more
Ideally, each page should be a separate, left-aligned paragraphs instead.
efficient organization of the topics at
easy-to-understand entity; don’t be hand. TABLES
concerned if you have pages that are only Technical reference literature often in-
• When you have bulleted or numbered
“half-full.” Having separate pages for dispa- cludes tables, sometimes complex or multi-
lists (which are generally very helpful
rate topics also improves the performance page. Following are a few guidelines which
on-screen), the introductory paragraph
PAGE 50 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX can significantly improve the on-screen use be helpful in identifying the relative location Additional Techniques
of tables: on the page. A red rectangle on the thumb- Following are some additional techniques
•Contents
nail indicates the area currently displayed, that can reduce the likelihood of “getting
•Ten years of PDF • Tables should generally be titled. If a
and can be moved or resized to change the lost” while browsing a PDF document
table is split between pages, the table
•Masters of PDF viewed area. (stand-alone or part of a document set):
title should be repeated, followed by
•Security & accessibility “Continued”; column heads should Acrobat/Reader 5 will create and display • Different colors can be assigned to
•Design & creation be duplicated on following pages. thumbnails dynamically, when the links and bookmarks, to differentiate
Multi-page tables can only also include Thumbnails tab is clicked. With previous between local, cross-file and web
indications such as “sheet 3 of 5.” If a releases of Acrobat thumbnails have to be destinations.
•Future of PDF link takes the reader to the middle of created and embedded in the PDF to be
• Targets can be opened in separate
a table, it will be easier to see that the useful to end-users with Acrobat Reader;
windows, which can be closed easily
table starts on previous pages. otherwise blank thumbnails are displayed.
without affecting the current document
• Horizontal tracking can be made easier (Acrobat Distiller 4 and higher can also
or location.
by increasing vertical spacing between create and embed thumbnails as part of its
items. You can also group 3-5 rows job options, but these are of lower quality).
ADVERTISEMENT
together, adding extra space after each
group. Alternate background tints, for
example every fifth row, or every other
Progress Bar
In a full-screen presentation (where scroll- ��
ing bars are hidden), a progress bar can be
��
�
row, help to differentiate between lines
(however, make sure that text legibility included to show the relative position of
is not affected in display and print). the current slide in the entire presentation.
• In complex tables, thin lines can used to Library-Level Orientation

separate title, heads and notes (al-
ADDITIONAL AIDS IN PDF LIBRARIES
though line width can vary in Acrobat’s
Main menus, graphic road maps or a
screen display, which can be distract-
“home” page will provide a useful entry/
ing).
re-location point in PDF libraries or collec- ��
THUMBNAILS ��
tions. A bookmark pointing to these can be
When viewing complex graphics at large included in all related PDFs for easy access.
magnifications, the thumbnail display can
PAGE 51 of 71 ��
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX • Pop-ups/rollovers associated with links • A continuous page mode may be specified in local user preference are
can display additional information, employed when there are links jumping respected.
•Contents
helping the reader make sure that into the middle of a topic (e.g. index
•Ten years of PDF In the Acrobat 5.0 PDFs, document titles
this is indeed the item being looked entries). The targets of these links may
are displayed in the title bars of all PDFs.
•Masters of PDF for, without being forced to leave the not be easily identified in a single-page
The related setting was not turned on
current page. They also reduce clutter mode. In continuous page mode,
•Security & accessibility in the Acrobat 5.0.5 JavaScript PDF and
when there is a lot of information to however, Acrobat will scroll the display
•Design & creation in the “Acrobat Distiller Parameters”
display for various items that are in to show the target of the link at the top
PDF included in the Help/ENU folder.
•Acrobat best practice close proximity to each other. of the screen.
Instead of a document title, the PDF file
•Future of PDF • Tooltips can be used to display brief Review of Reader-Orientation Aspects in name is displayed in the title bar (e.g.
information on graphics when there is PDFs included on the Acrobat 5 CD “Distparm.pdf”).
no immediate information above/below
Editor’s Note: Many of the PDF files cited
the graphics, to display additional
below are part of the Acrobat 5 Software
information (e.g. effective dates), or to
Development Kit (SDK). The versions used
provide brief information on icons.
are from the Acrobat 5 CD. There are also
• In detailed indexes, when entries are versions of the SDK documents available
linked to many pages, the major entries for download from the Adobe Solutions
(for example term definitions) can be Network site; they may not always be the
marked with a different color. same version as was distributed on the CD, ADVERTISEMENT
• Page transition effects can indicate new so some of the examples mentioned may
chapters or sections (these can work in not appear as described here if the online
a single-page display mode, and do not versions are newer (and if they’ve been
require full-screen mode). improved).
• A visible Back button (Go To Previous
Document-Level Orientation
View) on the page itself may be help-
ful to readers with less experience Open mode for all PDFs in the Acrobat 5
in Acrobat. (Back is also available in CD is with bookmarks.
Acrobat’s right-click menu) Magnification and Page Layout are specified
to be “Default,” which means that settings
PAGE 52 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX chapter does have a variable lower-level API Overview,” which uses double-sided
heading displayed in the running header. pagination.
•Contents
•Ten years of PDF The Errors chapter (pages 2589-2644) Empty pages related to double-sided
could have benefited from a dictionary or pagination are also disturbing on-screen.
•Masters of PDF
index style headers, showing the first/last “Acrobat Weblink API Reference” has 6
•Security & accessibility Metadata in all files is limited to Title, being
entry on each page. empty pages out of 38. “Highlight File
the title of the publication, and the Author
•Design & creation Format” has 3 empty pages out of 10.
(“Adobe Developer Support”, with a few The Acrobat JavaScript guide has no head-
“Acrobat Interapplication Communication
•Acrobat best practice exceptions). Subject and Keywords fields ers showing chapter/topic information
Overview” has 6 empty pages out of 52
were left empty. Coupled with the concept (which could be expected in the yellow
•Future of PDF (including the last two pages); out of the
of one PDF per publication, regardless bar at the top of all pages, as was done in
first 24 pages of “PDF Consultant,” 6 pages
of its scope, any potential added value the ADM Reference Guide). The JavaScript
are blank.
of document metadata is reduced to the Guide only has a static running footer
absolute minimum. displaying the book title. And interestingly, PAGE NUMBERING
even this title is inconsistent, showing an Handling of page numbering in the different
Topic- and Page-Level Orientation older title in the Contents and first sec- PDFs is inconsistent:
PAGE HEADERS tion (“Acrobat Forms - JavaScript Object
• Some PDFs start on regular page
In several of the PDFs, running page Specification”).
1, continuing all the way to the end
headers do not include topic-specific
SINGLE- VS. DOUBLE-SIDED PAGINATION (such as the Acrobat Help, or ADM
information, which changes dynamically
The majority of PDFs in the collection use Reference).
in the chapter. Headers in the Core API
double-sided pagination, which imposes • A few chapters have unnumbered front-
Reference are inconsistent. Several chap-
two penalties when displayed on-screen: matter pages, where the first page in
ters have a static header, with no additional
running headers and related graphic first chapter starts at the next available
information, while others have additional
elements alternate between left and number (such as Core API Reference,
topic-specific details. For example, the
right pages, creating a disturbing “noise” where the first page in the first chapter
294-page Declarations chapter only has a
when paging down. To test the effect of is 9).
static “Declaration” header; many of the
this, with “Fit Page in Window” selected,
topics start on a new page where the func- • Most PDFs have a combination of
try paging down in the “Acrobat Core
tion name is visible at the top, but continu- unnumbered, roman-numbered and
API Reference,” which uses single-sided
ation pages lack any specific identification. regularly numbered pages, continuing
pagination, and in the “Acrobat Core
PAGE 53 of 71 On the other hand, the 30-page Lists the roman numbering. For example:
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX “Acrobat Development Overview,” With the exception of the PDF Reference • Page breaks in short code fragments:
which has four unnumbered pages, Manual, none of the PDFs use page labels. pages 32 (curly brace moved to next
•Contents
Contents starting at V, Preface starting page), 48 and 62 (2 lines which should
•Ten years of PDF PAGE BREAKS
at IX, and first page of chapter 1 have been moved to next page), 81,
It is evident that not much attention was
•Masters of PDF starting at 13. 119, 123, 129 (a 2-line code fragment
paid to proper page breaks in the different
• The “Acrobat JavaScript” PDF has an split between two pages), 140, 165 and
•Security & accessibility PDFs.
unnumbered titled page, followed by many more instances.
•Design & creation “Guide to SDK Samples” has 40 pages.
page 2, followed by page 1 (Contents), • Page breaks in the middle of a brief
•Acrobat best practice another page 2, and then sequentially Page breaks in about half of these could function description: pages 52, 53,
to the end (page 295). Thus there is a be improved to the benefit of the reader. 54, 55, 56, 59, 61, 62, 65, 72, 73, 75,
•Future of PDF
constant discrepancy between the page Problems include: 76, 77, 80, 83, 84, 86 and many more
number displayed in Acrobat status • Headings at bottom of page, with no instances. Following pages even leave
bar/dialog box and the actual page additional text following the heading: the group heading or a portion of it at
number. pages 4, 30 bottom of the page: 97, 102, 103, 105
and more.
• Bulleted lists split awkwardly: pages 6,
ADVERTISEMENT
8, 14, 15 • Page break in the middle of a short
note: page 144
• Major topics that should have started
on a new page: 9, 11, 12, 14, 23, 26, 28, • Short note moved to next page, out of
30-38 context: 107, 213
“Acrobat JavaScript Guide” (included with “Acrobat Interapplication Communication
each copy of Acrobat and can be accessed Reference” demonstrates page-break
through Help > Acrobat) also serves as problems in Table of Contents. Page VI
an excellent example of how not to split starts with a single line, a left-over from
information between pages. Page numbers the listing of items in chapter 1; in pages
listed below are the printed numbers for VII and XI, major sections start at the
the 5.0.5 version (subtract by 1 to see bottom of the page, followed by five items
the same problems in the 5.0 version). or two items. In “Acrobat Interapplication
Problems include: Communication Overview,” Chapter 4 is
listed by itself at the bottom of page V, with
PAGE 54 of 71 entries included in it listed on the following
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX page. Tables of Contents and Indexes are as a stand-alone document, providing enters a document but cannot easily find a
usually generated automatically, but this direct links to all items. Many of the PDFs way to related documents.
•Contents
does not mean that page breaks should in the Acrobat SDK document set also
•Ten years of PDF Some PDFs which include the Roadmap
not be inspected and modified through include the same roadmap on page 3.
don’t include a bookmark pointing to it
•Masters of PDF automatic or manual settings.
(“Acrobat Core API Overview,” “Acrobat
•Security & accessibility TABLES Distiller API Reference”); in another PDF,
•Design & creation Some PDFs have several tables that are the bookmark is included but at a different
split between pages without indicat- level (“Acrobat Developer FAQ”).
ing “Continued” in the repeated table
For search purposes, it is better if such
•Future of PDF titles. For example, in “Acrobat Distiller
a roadmap is a stand-alone PDF, present
Parameters,” tables 2.6, 2.9, 3.1, 3.2,
once but linked to all PDFs. When the
3.3, 3.4 and more; “pdfmark Reference
roadmap is embedded in all PDFs, apart
Manual,” tables 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6
from the extra maintenance steps needed
and more; interestingly, in one case
when one of the existing documents is
“Continued” is shown on the second table
deleted or a new one added, searching for
segment - table 3.5.
a phrase included in one of document titles
In the PDF Reference Manual (Third will find it in all the documents in the col-
Edition), several tables are split without re- lection (this is the case unless the roadmap
peating any information, not even table title is implemented as non-text graphics).
or column headings: tables 3.9, 3.16, 3.18,
The roadmap is missing from several PDFs Notwithstanding, implementing a “you are
3.32, 4.2, 4.3, 4.8, 4.9 and more (similar
that are part of the document set and here” indication, highlighting the current
problems present in Second Edition).
are listed in the documentation roadmap document in the document set, is easier
The usefulness of thin colored lines in ta- (examples include “Acrobat SDK Release to implement when each PDF includes its
bles can be seen in the “Acrobat JavaScript” Notes,” “Guide to SDK Samples,” “Acrobat own local copy of the Roadmap - but this
PDF. Development Overview,” “Using ADM in was not done in the case of the Acrobat
Acrobat”). A roadmap must be accessible SDK document set.
Library-Level Orientation
from all documents that it points to, or else The page size of the Roadmap in both
An “Acrobat SDK Documentation it contains “dead ends,” where the reader standalone and embedded versions is 8.5
Roadmap,” in the form of chart, is available
PAGE 55 of 71 by 11 inches, which does not match page
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX sizes used in the different PDFs (mostly PDF USABILITY PREMISE PUT TO including among the four main flaws in or
•Contents
8.25 by 11 inches). THE TEST mistakes made by corporate IR Web sites:
•Ten years of PDF The Roadmap could have benefited from “Many corporate web pages offer quarterly
the use of color, as well as linked areas that In mid-2001 renowned usability guru Jakob and annual reports only in PDF format,
•Masters of PDF
match the boxes (and not of separate lines Nielsen warned his disciples of the alleged making them hard to browse online.”
•Security & accessibility within the boxes), and perhaps could have dangers of using PDF files online in a
The “Designing Web sites to Maximize
•Design & creation even used a different highlighting style. column titled “PDF - Avoid for On-Screen
Investor Relations” study apparently
Reading.” A number of more experienced
•Acrobat best practice Links in the Roadmap should have opened analyzed the Web sites of some 20
users of the Portable Document Format
the target PDFs in separate windows. companies. In his “UseIt.com” Alertbox
•Future of PDF subsequently pointed out some of the
That way, you could close a PDF that was column last month, Nielsen was more
flaws in Nielsen’s reasoning and examples,
opened through the roadmap, and still see descriptive with his criticism of PDF as a
as well in his seemingly limited grasp of
the roadmap underneath, without having Web-readable format:
Acrobat and PDF (and the differences
to take extra steps to locate it.
between them). “IR areas are plagued by PDF files, prob-
ably because they’re a cheap way to put
ADVERTISEMENT Adopters of PDF who also are believers in
annual reports online. It is indeed helpful
usability – contrary to Nielsen’s premise,
to let users download full reports, and you
�� they are not mutually exclusive – might
�� can save a lot of money when people make
�� have hoped that Nielsen had updated his
their own printouts rather than request-
��
thinking (and his copy of Acrobat, assuming
��
ing printed material by mail. But to view
��
��
he owns one) in the nearly two years
information online in a way that lets them
�� since that infamous Alertbox column was
�� rapidly understand key information, users
�� published.
��
��
need simpler formats that don’t require
�� Alas, judging from recently published them to slowly page through presentations
��
�� reports on a study examining problems that are optimized for print rather than
��
�� with information found on corporate Web interaction.”
��
�� sites, Nielsen appears to be singing pretty
much the same tune in 2003. CNN/Money So now PDFs are a plague?
��
� � � � � � � � � � ��
��
quotes Nielsen in an article titled “Do Well, we didn’t buy his reasoning in 2001
��
�� investor-relations Web sites work?” as and certainly consider it even more suspect
PAGE 56 of 71 ��
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX today. It’s a reaction not blindly based Presuming, as Nielsen suggests most
on our obvious long-standing support of investors do, that you want to quickly
•Contents
PDF, but on recent experience browsing get to certain portions of the document
•Ten years of PDF investor-related information. In fact, we and key pieces of information, here’s a
•Masters of PDF touched on the experience recently in tip: Forget about the HTML and Text
a previous Weblog post about the U.S. versions! Instead – and this assumes of
Securities and Exchange Commission’s course you have at least the free Adobe
•Design & creation acceptance of – but only in addition to its Acrobat Reader – proceed immediately
•Acrobat best practice “official” formats – PDF-based financial to the optional PDF version. For starters,
documents. Documents in HTML and plain it’s smaller in file size than *either* of the
•Future of PDF
text are the official SEC formats, as the other two formats. The HTML version
government Web site notes. [shown below] loads a single 1 MB-plus file
into your Web browser, hardly something
However, had the financial document we But not nearly the challenge you’ll have if
you’ll find easy-to-navigate. And unless
were seeking not been available in PDF, you invite the displeasure of trying to view
you narrow your Web browser window
and which we first highlighted in a February the allegedly plain text version of the same
considerably, scrolling and reading the
26 article titled “Adobe’s SEC filing reveals Form-10K file. A surprisingly coded, 3.7
unformatted text file on screen – one wide
future Acrobat hints,” we might not MB file (Yes, more than FOUR times larger
paragraph that wouldn’t fare well judging
have had the perseverance to locate the than the same file in the PDF version also
by any serious readability measure – will be
sought-after details scattered throughout available from the SEC site) slowly loads
a challenge.
the Form-10K (annual financial report) for – again, all text in a single page – inside
2002 filed by Adobe Systems. your Web browser. If and when it finishes
loading – and assuming your browser
The SEC’s EDGAR site maintains a
doesn’t choke on the textual glut – you’ll
searchable archive of the required
need all the help you can get in trying to
documents submitted by companies; you
find anything meaningful in short order,
can view an index of documents available
or at all. If you want to talk ‘plague,’ this
by company. For example, the recently
version is infested with usability problems!
filed Form-10K currently tops the list of
Adobe Systems documents available from
the SEC site.
PAGE 57 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Adobe has now posted another version Usability, you could say, is somewhat in the
on Adobe.com’s main IR page that could eye of the beholder.
•Contents
have been made into a better example
•Ten years of PDF of a screen-viewable PDF, one that might ACROTIP NO.70 - EXPLORING
•Masters of PDF help counterbalance at least one of the FULL SCREEN MODE
conclusions Nielsen makes about investor- By Richard Crocker, Planet PDF
related information on the Web.
If you weren’t already aware, Acrobat
By the way, if you want to read the nitty provide a featre that allows you to view
•Acrobat best practice PDFs in ‘Full Screen mode.’ Going into Full
gritty of the research on Investor Relations
•Future of PDF Website Design from the Nielsen Norman Screen hides some of the general clutter
Group, it’ll cost you $248 for a single copy of Acrobat such as toolbars, the titlebar
In comparison, the PDF version [shown
of the 121-page report, $468 for a version and the menubar. It is particularly useful if
above] was practically effortless to load
you can share around the office. And you’ll you would like to read a document online,
inside a properly configured Web browser.
need one other thing, as noted on the if you are using Acrobat to do a presenta-
You can browse pages by thumbnails,
company’s Web site: tion, or if you are considering publishing a
and the built-in PDF search tool made
visually rich document, you want to contain
it easy to quickly locate references to “Download usability reports as PDF
its navigation on the document pages
Acrobat and ePaper within the 116-page files”
rather than through the use of bookmarks
– yes, that dreaded print paradigm,
Yes, don’t forget to invest in a copy of and the Navigation toolbar. So how does
according to Nielsen – document. Adobe’s
the free Reader – but realize that if you Full Screen work, how do you turn it on or
Form-10K is not even a particularly good
purchase the full commercial version of off? It’s as simple as using the following two
example of how much more useful a
Adobe Acrobat, there’s a lot more you’ll keystrokes:
PDF version could be – for example, the
PDF has no bookmarks, the document’s be able to do with this and many other
• Open Full Screen - Ctrl + L (Win), Mac
Table of Contents has no active links PDFs, including the ability to make the text
+ L (Mac)
to the key sections or to other related “accessible” (so that it can be reflowed and
easily viewed on smaller devices). Or to • Close Full Screen - Esc
information, and the full-width paragraph
formatting is no more readability friendly set your own bookmarks, add annotations,
(probably by requirement). That may be extract the text for repurposing and
understandable for the PDF version that so on. Now *that* would be a prudent
can be downloaded from the SEC site, but investment, we think.
PAGE 58 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX it’s easy to add access to some commonly them, or others open them, you can make
used features of Acrobat, such as: it open in Full Screen mode and hide
•Contents
different parts of Acrobat. This means you
•Ten years of PDF • Show/Hide Bookmarks - F5
can choose to hide or display such features
•Masters of PDF • Show/Hide Thumbnails - F4 as the toolbars and menus. Head to File >
• Show/Hide Toolbar - F8 Document Properties > Open Options.
• Show/Hide Menubar - F9
•Acrobat best practice Preferences

The Full Screen preferences are primarily
•Future of PDF
Full Screen mode in action. The clutter is removed, designed for use when Acrobat is being
with only a few toolbars and bookmarks accessible. used to do a presentation and they are set
Typically Full Screen mode opens with and applied to all PDFs when opened in
nothing displaying but the document, but Full Screen. Head to Edit > Preferences >
Full Screen to modify them.
ACROTIP NO.73 - TURNING

PAPER INTO SEARCHABLE
ADVERTISEMENT PDFS, USING ACROBAT’S PAPER
CAPTURE PLUG-IN
By Richard Crocker, Planet PDF
Luckily after the release of Acrobat 5

Adobe listened to users’ disappointment
over the exclusion of the Paper Capture
plug-in and today we can download the
Open Options
plug-in and (as we could with Acrobat 4)
Acrobat Open Options give you the ability
convert images into real, searchable text.
to make your PDFs open in Full Screen
(Unfortunately for Mac users though,
mode – which means when you open
Adobe are yet to release a plug-in.)
PAGE 59 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX While Acrobat’s Paper Capture plug-in is to use it. Scanning your documents at at When you run the Paper Capture,
not going to give you the power to turn an least 300 dots per inch (DPI) will help a lot. all bitmapped text it recognizes will
•Contents
office completely paperless, it’s particularly be replaced with the equivalent text
•Ten years of PDF useful for making key data and info Using the Paper Capture plug-in character. This format creates a small
•Masters of PDF available across a network. For example, Once you’ve downloaded and installed the file size than the other styles, however
imagine having information like commonly plug-in, in Acrobat go to Tools > Paper it changes the original look of the docu-
accessed contracts and documentation on Capture. ment.
•Design & creation a computer network, instead of locked • PDF Searchable Image (Exact): Used to
•Acrobat best practice away as paper in a filing cabinet. be known as ‘PDF Image + Text.’ This
•Future of PDF Once it’s on your computer the Paper creates the largest file size, but is, as
Capture plug-in will let you make it search- the name suggests, the most accurate.
able through its optical character recogni- When the plug-in is run a layer of text
tion (OCR) engine. The Paper Capture is placed behind the image, making the
plug-in turns the text images on your scans page appear exactly as it did when you
into actual text characters that can be scanned, but now it is searchable.
editable and searchable – so rather than • PDF Searchable Image (Compact):
scouring the pages to locate the informa- This is the compromise between the
tion you’re after, you can find it almost two types above, producing smaller
instantly using Acrobat’s built-in Find tool. files sizes than the Exact method. The
general look and feel of the image is
Getting started retained and it becomes searchable.
PDF Output Styles
The first step required is to scan the The quality is not quite as good as the
Once you’ve scanned your pages and have
paper to digital form. This is the key step Exact method.
them in Acrobat, you can take the ‘PDF
to making sure you get the most out of
Image Only’ format and convert it in a
your electronic copy. Because the Paper
number of ways, each of which is depend-
Capture is run over this, it means the clear-
ent on how you want to use your PDFs.
est and best aligned pages are most likely
Here’s an overview of the different styles:
to be well processed. We won’t go into too
much detail as we’re presuming you have a • PDF Formatted Text and Graphics:
You’ll notice that along with the different
scanner and a basic understanding of how Used to be known as ‘PDF Normal.’
PAGE 60 of 71 styles you have the option to downsample
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX the pages. The lower DPI you go the ACROTIP NO.69 - OPENING
•Contents
smaller the file size. If you’re only going to ACROBAT FASTER II
be using the PDF on your computer (and By Richard Crocker, Planet PDF
•Ten years of PDF don’t plan to print it) then downsampling is
The all or nothing approach of our recent
•Masters of PDF a good way to reduce the file size.
tip on opening Acrobat faster was, as we
PDF Formatted Text and Graphics said, only really useful when you wanted to
•Design & creation read or view a PDF file – the main problem
The PDF Formatted Text and Graphics
with it was that your manipulation of the
•Acrobat best practice style includes extra editing features which
PDF became impossible because it turned
let you manually process words that the
•Future of PDF Acrobat into little more than an Acrobat
plug-in was uncertain about. If you look at
Reader-like application. So what if you
the example below you can see a couple
want to open Acrobat faster but still have
of words with a border around them. As
access to your favorite tools?
OCR technology is not 100% accurate, This will pop up the window below, which
the uncertain words are kept as images, you use to accept the changes. It’s possible by getting into the Plug-ins
at which time you can go through them folder and working out which ones you
manually. don’t want to load. Because Acrobat is
such a massive application, with so many
uses, it’s more than likely that there are
plug-ins sitting there that you will never
use. A simple example of a feature I never
use is the movie plug-in. Every time I open
Acrobat, this plug-in is loaded, yet I never
Final Thought
use it.
If you want to take it a step further, index-
ing a bunch of files would make locating Examining Acrobat’s plug-ins
content much simpler – once the index is To find out info about the plug-ins Acrobat
We can begin the process of accepting setup, it’s just a matter of using the Search uses, go to Help > About Adobe Acrobat
or declining whether we change the text tool in Acrobat. Plug-ins. This will open the dialog that
image into real text by going to Tools >
allows you to establish the functions of
Touch Up Text > Find First Suspect
PAGE 61 of 71 each plug-in. You need to be wary of
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX plug-ins that other plug-ins are dependent tures and emailing PDFs. If we can work The unchanged plug-ins folder, with a fully loaded
on – an example is the Forms plug-in out which plug-ins provide these functions Acrobat in the background
•Contents
(AcroForm.api) – many plug-ins you may quickly. We have opened the About Adobe
•Ten years of PDF not expect are dependent on it. The dialog Acrobat Plug-ins (above) window and
•Masters of PDF below has a field that shows you what established that the following four plug-ins
plug-ins are dependent on others. are the ones we need to remove:
•Design & creation Moving plug-ins • DigSig.api
•Acrobat best practice The standard location for the plug-ins is \ • SendMail.api
Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 5.0\Acrobat\ • Movie.api (in the Movie folder)
•Future of PDF
Plug_ins. Once you pick the plug-ins you • Spelling.api (in the Spelling folder)
would like to move aside, you’ll be copying
Grab the files and simply drag them
them to another folder setup just for the
into the \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat
purpose at \Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat
5.0\Acrobat\Optional folder. Looking at
5.0\Acrobat\Optional.
this example visually (below), you can The streamlined plug-ins folder shows less plug-ins.
notice how certain toolbar options become Looking closely at Acrobat reveals that several
unavailable when the plug-in is moved. toolbar options have disappeare
ADVERTISEMENT
��
��
� ��

��
��
� ��
� ��
� ��
� ��
For the sake of this example, let’s say
��
that we never use certain functionality of
Acrobat like movies, spelling, digital signa-
PAGE 62 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX piece there are still a few loose ends left New toolbars, new menus, new navigation
to take care of, for the most part we view tabs, new pane, new names, new versions,
•Contents FUTURE OF PDF
this release as being truly groundbreaking. new features. There’s a lot new and
•Ten years of PDF Unlike the release of Acrobat 5.0, which there’s a lot to learn. Here’s Planet PDF’s
•Masters of PDF in comparison with 6.0 was a fairly minor overview of some of the most interesting
PLANET PDF TAKES A FIRST
update, we are much more bullish about changes.
•Security & accessibility LOOK AT ACROBAT 6
the benefits that Acrobat 6.0 is going to
•Design & creation Major new release. New versions, Acrobat bring to its potential customers and users. Creating PDFs
•Acrobat best practice Standard & Professional The latest release has definitely improved
From the moment you open the applica-
By Richard Crocker, Planet PDF the ease of PDF creation. Adobe’s market-
•Future of PDF tion it becomes immediately obvious that
ing calls this ‘one button’ or ‘one step’ PDF
In our opinion, Adobe’s new flagship prod- there have been significant effort and
creation and in most cases it really is that
uct Acrobat 6 is the most significant release resources deployed to this release. If we
easy. Don’t be fooled into thinking this is
since version 1.0 came out almost 10 had to sum up the release in a single word,
a trivial matter. When you’re dealing with
years ago. Whilst at the time of writing this we’d be suggesting “maturity”.
the world at large, simplifying the process
ADVERTISEMENT
��

��
��

��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��
��

��
��
��
www.activePDF.com
PAGE 63 of 71 © 2003 activePDF, Inc. All rights reserved. "activePDF", "It's everybody's PDF", "Leading the iPaper Revolution" and the activePDF logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of activePDF, Inc.
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX of creating a PDF is absolutely the key to up a new world of exciting possibilities. expect from the search system provided
increasing and encouraging distribution of Engineers and architects can start to use by Apple’s Sherlock, the built-in Microsoft
•Contents
PDFs. With the exception of Professional this feature with the release of Acrobat Windows XP search and of course, Google
•Ten years of PDF printers, you’ll probably never meet the 6 Professional, for others it will come itself.
•Masters of PDF Distiller again, except by chance in a dark over time as companies, including Adobe
Headers & Footers, Watermarks &
alley. Systems, add support so that their files can
•Security & accessibility Backgrounds
be converted to PDF with layers intact.
•Design & creation Commenting & Reviewing Expect to see a rich variety of solutions Stamping text and images in PDF files
•Acrobat best practice Central to the concept of PDF as a ubiqu- over the next few years as third-party has been one of most often requested
itious electronic document is its continued developers see how they can utilize the feature additions to Acrobat over the past
•Future of PDF
development and support of collaboration support now available in the latest 1.5 PDF few years - it has arrived with Acrobat
tools that keep users round tripping docu- specification. 6 (Standard and Professional). Acrobat
ments in electronic form. Acrobat 6 has Professional users can now apply them in
continued to develop new commenting Reducing File Size & PDF Optimizer batches by using the Batch Processing tool.
features and continued to make existing Both Acrobat Standard and Professional
tools more usable. As with the improved include a menu item (File, Reduce File Size) ADVERTISEMENT
features for easy PDF creation, the ad- for reducing the file size of the current
ditions for review and commenting may document. The size of the resulting docu-
well be the tweaks that were needed to ment will vary depending on the compat-
take this technology from being something ibility of the Acrobat version compatibility
which was interesting, to being something Innovative PDF Solutions
you select.
which is useful to a lot of people on a daily Quite Revealing
basis. In fact, not only useful, but perhaps Search and Catalog Has been developed to "expose PDF secrets."
It assists pre-press professionals with pre-
a core part of day-to-day business activity. Acrobat 6 now allows you to search flighting. You view PDF documents and selected
elements side-by-side to figure out where
We think this latest round of changes for multiple PDF documents, albeit somewhat problems might reside. Viewers are provided
with RGB and spot colors, halftones,
review and commenting have what it takes more slowly, without first having to index transparency, transfer functions, ICC profiles,
and overprinting -- key problem areas. The
to make it in the business environment. them with Catalog. In addition, the search plug-in also incorporates one-button actions like
renaming, recoloring, combining spot plates,
user interface has been redesigned to be, spot to process conversion, halftone and ICC
Layers (Optional Content Groups) not surprisingly, more Web oriented in
profile removal.
Download FREE DEMO Today! www.quite.com

The new Layers functionality, technically its look and feel. This new system looks Quite Imposing Plus
Or contact us and get a Free Demo CD sales@quite.com
Call INTERNATIONAL • Phone: +44 208 553 6574
known as Optional Content Groups, opens much more similar to what you would
www.quite.com
PAGE 64 of 71 Call U.S.A. and Canada • Phone: 858 581 9143

Mac OS & WIN 95/98/NT
Feature
Copyright © 1997-2017 Foxit Corporation | All Rights Reserved | www.planetpdf.com | Planet PDF - a World of Adobe Acrobat and PDF Product
Resources. 2.9" x 3.4"
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Measuring & Zoom Flash, animation, transitions seat for a 1000-seat license), Acrobat
Other creative professional tools include Fully embedded multimedia has taken its Standard ($249/$99 upgrade) and Acrobat
•Contents
new ways to view a PDF, including: time to move across to PDF – support Professional ($449/$149 upgrade). Acrobat
•Ten years of PDF Reader is still around, but it’s now known
includes Flash files, MP3 files, PowerPoint
• Rulers & Measuring – allow you to by its new moniker, Adobe Reader.
•Masters of PDF animation conversions and better control
accurately measure distances and areas
•Security & accessibility over Acrobat transitions. Now that it’s The most significant comment that Planet
of the page.
here, we’d suggest that we’re going to see PDF can make about Acrobat 6.0, is that
some very interesting documents. The it’s now well and truly a mature product, in
•Acrobat best practice concept of PDF being a rich container of fact, ‘mature’ is our Acrobat 6.0 one word
•Future of PDF content is proven here with this release. summary as you’ll note in our official Planet
PDF first look.
eBooks & DRM
Goodbye Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader, Many of the little additions and accompani-
everything is now integrated directly into ments which make it so easy to use PDF
Acrobat – as long time supporters of are what we feel will make this product
eBooks, we’re interested to see the merg- successful.
ing of the two separate applications finally
• Zoom increased – zoom large, detailed The Acrobat Name Game
happen. All DRM is built in to Acrobat
documents to 6400%.
and Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat • Adobe Reader - In a case of wag the
• Split window – view different pages of eBook Readers ‘bookshelf’ tools have been dog, the product which was formerly
the same PDF by splitting the screen. moved across. known as the Adobe Acrobat Reader,
• Dynamic Zoom – lets you grab the page now has the official title of Adobe
and zoom dynamically by moving the PLANET PDF’S TAKE ON Reader. Time will tell as to whether this
cursor around. ACROBAT 6.0 is an effective name change, or another
By Karl De Abrew, Planet PDF educational & training nightmare. This
• Loupe Tool – ideal for working with
newly named product also includes full
large format documents like those Adobe is segmenting Acrobat into three
support for Adobe eBooks without the
generated by AutoCAD. This tool lets distinctly separate products, with succes-
need for a separate viewer.
you zoom into areas on the page. sively greater features, benefits and prices.
Introducing, from low to high-end: Acrobat • Acrobat Elements - this minimalist
Elements (volume licensing only, $28 per product available for volume purchase
PAGE 65 of 71 only is used for PDF creation and has
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX no plug-in support. Buy and use this printing capabilities. This is the product tures. You’ll find PDF files popping out
as-is, no free steak knives here. that most of you will be wanting to use, like rabbits. Take the ‘Attach As PDF’
•Contents
• Acrobat Standard - Standard Acrobat in our opinion. button in MS Outlook, this is a real time
•Ten years of PDF saver that should be the tipping point in
viewer product. This supports plug-ins The Planet PDF Top Six Features
•Masters of PDF but has limited functionality. dramatically increasing the number of
Whilst there are many new additions, PDF files flying around.
•Security & accessibility • Acrobat Pro - the big kahuna - this is we’ve selected a few of our favorites to
the standard version of Acrobat en- • Sophisticated reviewing and comment-
•Design & creation share with you below. (See also Planet PDF
hanced with additions for the creative ing means that electronic markup is
•Acrobat best practice takes a first look at Acrobat 6.)
professional, forms designer, engineer much more likely to occur due to the
•Future of PDF and architect. It boasts a JavaScript • Simple PDF creation means that PDF more precise nature of the new toolset.
development environment complete can be used effortlessly throughout a We’ve been trying for years at Planet
with a debugger. Along with this it also workflow by a variety of users. Do not PDF to make use of commenting, but
contains watched folder support, PDF/ underestimate the significance of the we’ve always found it too clumsy for
X compliance, advanced pre-press and work that has gone into this set of fea-
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 66 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX prime time. With Acrobat 6.0, it looks after years of having the Acrobat Help happy to see their old friend, Acrobat
like we’re now in luck. file open over the top of our work, the Search, back in action. But it gets worse
•Contents
• Printers and creative professionals will technical wizards at Adobe have found for Mac classic users, they don’t get any
•Ten years of PDF a way of having it open in a separate support at all.
be happy to see the additional print-
•Masters of PDF related functionality built into the Pro window. This definitely gets the Planet • The price. Yep, reach a little deeper
version. As Acrobat 5.0 Bible Author PDF thumbs up! into your pockets this time. Serious
and Planet PDF friend Ted Padova says, • Rich multimedia support means that PDF users are going to need and want
“...Acrobat was like a second cousin PDF can be used as a complete rich the Pro version which weighs in at
•Acrobat best practice to other Adobe imaging applications media container with no need for about $449 street (approx. $150 more
•Future of PDF where users needed to depend on third external services/files. This isn’t going than Acrobat 5), with an upgrade price
party plug-ins (often at prices twice the to revolutionize the Planet, but as you’d of $149. More lightweight users will pay
price of Acrobat) to perform the job of expect, we do think it’s pretty cool that $299 for Acrobat 6.0 Standard or just
professional printing. Now in Acrobat you can embed an MP3 file within a $99 to upgrade. If you’re upgrading, you
6 Professional, users can preflight jobs, PDF. do want to seriously consider spending
soft proof color, and print with features the extra $50 dollars, you get Batch
Potential Issues For Some Users
that rival most professional layout Processing, Catalog, Forms creation &
applications.” • It’s bigger, badder and slower than JavaScript editing.
previous versions. The old adage, you
• Helpers, time savers and mature
don’t get something for nothing applies
feature sets mean that Acrobat 6.0 is
here. The beta versions we evaluated
much more likely to be able to take
weighed in at close to 200MB for PC
care of the job that you set for it,
and double that for the Mac. Hopefully
without the need for additional third
there’s still some dieting to be done
party plug-ins. Not to say that third-
here before commercial release.
party plug-ins won’t be useful, but
they’ll be innovating in new areas rather • Good news, bad news for Mac users.
than operating within what’s now Long-time Mac users may well be
baseline functionality. disappointed with the lack of browser-
integration for Acrobat 6.0 and Mac OS
• An enhanced help system means that
X which means that online commenting
getting help is easier and less disruptive.
is off-limits for Mac users. But they’ll be
At Planet PDF, we’re very happy now
PAGE 67 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX THE FIRST THOUGHTS ON WHAT’S THE VERDICT? DOES ACROBAT 6 THIS COMPELLING FEATURE AND WHY IT’S
•Contents ACROBAT 6: LEONARD BREAK NEW GROUND. DO PEOPLE NEED IT EXCITING.

ROSENTHOL TALKS WITH AND ITS NEW FEATURES? From an end user standpoint, I love
•Ten years of PDF I think Acrobat 6 is the best version of Optional Content Groups (aka Layers).
PLANET PDF
•Masters of PDF Acrobat to date!! Not only does it offer They are well designed, flexible and usable
Planet PDF’s Richard Crocker gets some
a much improved (and logically organ- for many more things that the simple
•Security & accessibility quick fire answers on the new release from
ized) User Experience, and new features “layers” that the UI today offers users.
expert users
•Design & creation - but they are all fully functional for both For example, layers that aren’t visible on
•Acrobat best practice Windows AND Mac OS X users! It’s a the screen, but appear on printouts or
MUST HAVE for Mac OS X folks! layers that are only visible at certain zoom
•Future of PDF
settings! I expect that we’ll see some pretty
WHAT NEW ACROBAT 6 FEATURE ARE YOU
cool stuff come out of it.
MOST EXCITED ABOUT? BRIEFLY EXPLAIN
For the techo-geek in me, the new
Content panel is the best thing since sliced
ADVERTISEMENT
PAGE 68 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX bread! It’s a hierarchical display and editor ARE THERE ANY CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH It’s important to continually migrate old
to all of the content on a PDF page. YOU WOULD RECOMMEND STAYING WITH documents to newer, improved formats so
•Contents
ACROBAT 5.0? that there will be applications that can read
•Ten years of PDF WHAT SINGLE FEATURE FROM PREVIOUS
Well, there is no version for Mac OS 9, or them. But that’s still not a fix, because as
VERSIONS OF ACROBAT DO YOU THINK HAS
•Masters of PDF Pro version for Win98 - so if you’re still on the article notes, “as you migrate, you lose
BEEN MOST IMPROVED WITH THE ACROBAT 6
those older OS’s, you really don’t have a something: colouration here, formatting
•Security & accessibility RELEASE?
choice. there.”
•Design & creation Without question, it’s Mac OS X support!
The only features that are available on Otherwise, I think it’s a winner and I can’t It might seem that PDF would be viewed
•Acrobat best practice wait to start using it fulltime...
Windows but not on Mac OS X, are those as a reasonable solution, except for some
•Future of PDF things that are Windows specific, such as inherent shortcomings for use as a long-
CAPI and Office XP support. DIGITAL MEMORY LOSSES time archival format. Researchers at IBM,
By Kurt Foss, Planet PDF Editor for example, are working on the “universal
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE
You’ve no doubt heard of the Dark Ages, virtual computer” concept that will involve
PRODUCT SEGMENTATION INTO ELEMENTS,
a period in history that some believe the creation of a simple set of instructions
STANDARD AND PROFESSIONAL, AND THE
is on the verge of being repeated ... in that all computers and applications could
RENAMING OF ACROBAT READER TO ADOBE
a sense. The steady advancement of read. According to the AP article says,
READER?
computer-based technologies and file that’s “something easier said than done
I like the break up of Standard and Pro
formats, according to a recent Associated when dealing with a format like .pdf,’ which
- and even more so the marketing and
Press news item titled “Digital memory takes 978 pages to describe.”
legal aspects that allow some amazing
opportunities for 3rd party developers. comes up short,” foretells a future ‘digital As the article points out, as we’ve reported
Elements, I’m still not 100% certain about. dark age’ where parts of our collective previously, there is an effort underway
memories – those preserved in electronic to address PDF’s viability for long-term
Acrobat Reader -> Adobe Reader is a format – are forever lost: archiving:
GREAT idea and will really help Adobe
move other standards (such as SVG) to the “At risk are your email and music. And “Recognising the growing reliance on the
foreground by having a single integrated that’s just for starters. Institutions, proprietary ‘.pdf’ format from Adobe
Reader. meanwhile, are grappling with ensuring Systems, an international group is working
the longevity of digital art, electronic court with the company to develop an archival
filings, online journals and much more.” version as a standard.”
PAGE 69 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX Add that to Adobe’s recently announced BETTING THE FARM ON PDF Bloomberg.com: “Could it [Acrobat] be 50
•Contents
Photoshop Album software for image CASH COW percent of earnings?”
archiving, which uses PDF as its core By Kurt Foss, Planet PDF Editor
•Ten years of PDF Chizen: Yes, yes.
exchange format, and one can imagine a
As we’ve noted here before, Acrobat’s
•Masters of PDF scenario where things may not be quite so Bloomberg.com: Or more?
continuing future as a product at Adobe
dark in the future as some skeptics suggest.
•Security & accessibility Systems wasn’t really assured until at least Chizen: Or more, yes.
A future generation programmer should
•Design & creation version 3.0, when it seemed to finally begin
still be able to develop a PDF viewer based During the same interview, Chizen also
catching on. For one thing, many potential
•Acrobat best practice on Adobe’s public specification, something said that “I believe three to five years from
customers weren’t totally clear (and some
often overlooked by those who lament that now, Adobe will be known as the company
•Future of PDF still aren’t) whether it was fish or fowl,
PDF is proprietary. that has bridged the paper-to-digital
since Acrobat is truly a multi-faceted
divide.”
software program that can be part of a
solution to a range of needs or problems. In other words, as goes Acrobat, so goes
Adobe. If v.3.0 was the turning point for
But to hear Adobe President and CEO
Acrobat, then v. 6.0 – which by most
ADVERTISEMENT Bruce Chizen in his dicussion today with
analyst calculations is expected to arrive
Bloomberg.com, the company/product
in the first part of 2003 – could be the
fortunes have in a sense been reversed.
breaking point. Its success will help to
With With Adobe as of late having “seen
determine whether Adobe can once again
better days,” as Bloomberg describes its
re-invent itself, this time moving from a
falling stock price and decreased sales
company peddling shrinkwrapped software
and revenue, the company told analysts
to one deeply enmeshed in enabling
and investors yesterday that the key to
the vital communication and electronic
its strategy of projected revenue growth
commerce processes of corporate
next year rests to a considerable extent on
enterprise and government agency
Acrobat’s broadening shoulders.
customers. If it can successfully perform
Currently Acrobat accounts for slightly that challenging feat, it’ll have lived up to its
more than 25 percent of the company’s core product’s moniker: Acrobat.
revenue. Chizen sees that figure soaring in
the next three to five years.
PAGE 70 of 71
Prev Home Next
CHAPTER INDEX DIRECTORY

•Contents
•Ten years of PDF activePDF eHelp Corporation Planet PDF

http://www.activepdf.com/ http://www.robohelp.com/ http://www.planetpdf.com/
•Masters of PDF
•Security & accessibility AdLib Systems FileOpen Quite Software

•Design & creation http://www.adlibsys.com/ http://www.fileopen.com/ http://www.quite.com/

Debenu Foxit Software Tall Components
•Future of PDF http://www.debenu.com/ http://www.foxitsoftware.com/ http://www.tallcomponents.com/
Foxit SDK
http://developers.foxitsoftware.com/
PLANET PDF BEST OF SPONSORS
��
��
PAGE 71 of 71

Ten Years of PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Ten Years of PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

TEN YEARS OF PDF

SECURITY & ACCESSIBILITY

PRINT, DESIGN & CREATION

USING ACROBAT/BEST PRACTICE

THE FUTURE OF PDF

CHAPTER INDEX ADVERTISEMENT TEN YEARS OF PDF DESIGN & CREATION

• Bill Gates biographer suggests Microsoft ‘Milestone Documents’

MASTERS OF PDF • PDF usability put to the test

��������� workplace efficiency and technological

������� paper preferable to paper.”

��������������� ��� ����������

Quite Imposing Plus

PAGE 29 of 71 Call U.S.A. and Canada • Phone: 858 581 9143

Copyright ©Feature Product

���� ����������� ���

���� ����� ��� ���� �� ����

�������� ��� ������� ��������� �������� ���������� �� ��� ����

As reported earlier today, The Washington

• In complex tables, thin lines can used to Library-Level Orientation

•Acrobat best practice Preferences

ACROTIP NO.73 - TURNING

Luckily after the release of Acrobat 5

•Design & creation Moving plug-ins • DigSig.api

� ��� �� ����� ���� ���� �����

���� ����������� ���

���� ����� ��� ���� �� ����

�������� ��� ������� ��������� �������� ���������� �� ��� ����

Download FREE DEMO Today! www.quite.com

PAGE 64 of 71 Call U.S.A. and Canada • Phone: 858 581 9143

•Contents ACROBAT 6: LEONARD BREAK NEW GROUND. DO PEOPLE NEED IT EXCITING.

CHAPTER INDEX DIRECTORY

•Ten years of PDF activePDF eHelp Corporation Planet PDF

•Security & accessibility AdLib Systems FileOpen Quite Software

•Acrobat best practice

PLANET PDF BEST OF SPONSORS

You might also like

�� workplace efficiency and technological

�� paper preferable to paper.”

��

��

��

��

� ��

��

��

��