TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:RE: Survey: how do you use PDFs From:"Brierley, Sean" <Sean -at- Quodata -dot- Com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Wed, 9 May 2001 12:55:54 -0400
Hallo:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Sandy Harris [SMTP:sandy -at- storm -dot- ca]
> Tom Murrell wrote:
> >
> > Regarding PDFs. I don't like 'em.
>
> I agree, though I'd state it more strongly. I detest attempts to pretend
> PDF
> is a usable online documentation format. It is a print format which can,
> at
> a pinch, be read online.
>
Oh, I disagree completely. By formatting your PDFs for the screen, by
chunking your information appropriately, by using hypertext navigation, by
creating specific navigation elements in your PDF, and by using features
that enhance the doc, such as rollovers and pop-ups, PDF can most certainly
be a very usable and useful online format!
> > They're the most difficult things online to read online. Invariably they
> > arrive fuzzy and poorly sized for the screen. (You can't size things for
> > every screen with PDF, I don't believe.)
>
> I think the error is sizing things at all, rather than leaving to the user
> and the browser to make it fit an available window.
>
I am not sure to what you refer.
If you refer to screen captures, consider the source and the output and you
will realize the problem lies not with PDF. In brief, a dialog box can be
resized on screen and display perfectly because a program is controlling the
look of the dialog box dynamically. A screen capture is a painting, it is
fixed in time. Screen captures are limited by the resolution of the monitor
and by the size of what you are capturing, in pixels. Screen elements and
software are not designed to be documented, so frequently they are larger
than our text columns and too large for our online Help, PDF, and other
output media. Resizing screen captures changes the number of pixels in the
image, or resolution, or both. On screen, a 600x600 pixel dialog box
comprises 360,000 pixels and, at 96-dpi, is 6.25-inches square. If you take
a screen capture of that, and resize or resample it, you have to be aware
that any change in the 600x600 pixel dimensions or 96-dpi resolution
**will** unavoidably affect how that image displays in a fixed, 96-dpi
environment. Because, while a program can resize and dynamically refresh a
dialog box, a screen capture is merely a picture without the dynamics
available to the software program.
> > They're hard to navigate, and everything everybody else says about them
> > is true, too.
>
> Slow to load, twice as large as equivalent HTML file, harder to manage in
> a revision control system, ...
>
Manage the source files for the PDF, not the PDF.
> > I don't like 'em. Don't like 'em at all.
>
> > That said, if I have to have the information and the only way to get it
> is a
> > PDF, I'll print it out. They usually exist because the developing
> organization
> > finds shipping PDFs cheaper than shipping the printed counterpart. They
> shove
> > the printing cost onto their audiences. In fact, now that I think about
> it,
> > everything about a PDF document seems to be for the convenience of the
> > developer/developing organization not the convenience of the user.
>
If you distribute printed documentation, and the subject of that
documentation changes, how costly or easy is it to get updated documentation
to the reader? Do you ship a set of pages with which the reader is supposed
to replace an existing page set? If so, assuming the pages actually make it
to the guy with the book, how often does the guy with the book replace the
affected pages? Or, do you ship a replacement printed book?
PDFs can be conveniently downloaded to replace existing PDF documentation.
In the case of software, the PDF can be updated automatically as part of an
upgrade or patch. The capability of updating a book or document set by
download is very convenient versus the alternative, paper-based solutions.
I am not saying PDF is perfect, or the end-all of electronic documentation.
I just suggest that those who pigeon-hole it as strictly a print-only medium
are looking at PDF with blinders on.
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
Sponsored by Information Mapping, Inc., a professional services firm
specializing in Knowledge Management and e-content solutions. See http://www.infomap.com or 800-463-6627 for more about our solutions.
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
