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> Jacob Nielsen's polemic on PDF as an on-line medium reveals his lack of
> even a basic understanding of PDF's capabilities and advantages. His
> claim that PDF produces a 300% reduction in readability is not only
> absurd, its outrageous.
Yippeee! Dan Emory is back! After being banished from just about every
tech writing board there is, he's back and trashin' people just like old
times. This time its respected Sun Microsystems scientist and usability
expert Jacob Nielsen who had the unmitigated gall to speak poorly of an
Adobe product.
While the article may be a bit harsh, it is also right about a lot of
things. Graphics resolution in PDF is horrible. And don't even think of
using anything but standard fonts and layouts. And using Frame does not
make those graphics one tiny bit better. In fact, I have had better luck
going from Word (OH MY GOD NOT WORD!!!!) to PDF than Frame to PDF in so
far as graphics are concerned.
Also - he is very right about another aspect. Very few users are savvy
enough to keep up to par with the latest versions of the Acrobat reader.
We still do docs in 3.0 format because 75% of the readers don't have 4.0
or 5.0 reader.
> As far as I'm concerned, HTML is a return to the dark ages of
publishing,
> before it was recognized that typography and page design were the
essential
> tools for improving readability and comprehension.
As long as those fonts line up who cares if the text makes any sense?
Right, Dan?
How come writers are always worried about "readability" but the only way
they ever suggest improving it is to purchase complex new tools or attend
seminars? It never seems to occur to them that maybe, just maybe, the
reader doesn't give one-billionth of a iota about the fonts, layout,
tools, etc. They just want correct information.
> The Web has become the haven for the growing legions of the
non-literate.
> These are people who can read, but choose not to.
You got that - all you web users are illiterate non-readers. You sure do
have some deep respect for you audience Dan.
Do you have any objective facts to back up this assertion, Dan? By
objective, I mean facts from a respected, known organization and not the
"Kill Bill Gates Foundation."
> They never sit down and
> thoroughly read a book or a newspaper. They get their news from
television.
> When they do read, they just skim, claiming they can get the gist of any
> subject that way, and that's enough to get by, even in college. If a
> company is catering to this lowest-common-denominator of reader, it
makes
> sense to hire web designers who also belong to that same
Ritalin-deprived
> caste.
Yeah, but they could frag your sorry ass in Half-Life Counter Strike any
day of the week.
> Furthermore, the prime interest of most subscribers to TechWhirlers is
not
> web page design. Instead, they're concerned with the development of
> procedure-dominant documentation that can be successfully viewed on-line
> and which can also be printed successfully when (as is often the case)
> there is a need to do so. Designing such documentation for that
> lowest-common-denominator non-literate reader guarantees that it will
fail
> to fulfill the needs of both literate and non-literate users.
Did it ever occur to you that reaching the "lowest common denominator" is
how you sell products, make money, and in turn hire consultants like you?
Did it ever occur to you that maybe not all documents are
"procedure-dominant? Some are educational and narrative based? Did it ever
occur to you that a lot of us are interested in web page design (including
myself) and use HTML as a basis for some documents?
Did it ever occur to you to be nice and not assume everything you think is
correct?
Welcome back Dan. We're so glad to have your unique brand of wisdom here.
Andrew Plato
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