Fuzzy images

["Nealon, Jessica" <Jessica -dot- Nealon -at- McKesson -dot- com>]

I think that PDFs can be improved somewhat but the effort expended exceeds
the results.  It's the Law of Diminishing Returns.  We have tried screen
optimizations here and different graphic formats and everything else we can
think of (often from advice on this list) and none of us can see a vast
improvement.  You just get lower gradations of fuzziness.  The fuzziness
will always be there because the product does not have the capacity for
clarity.  That's what I meant by the lawn mower metaphor.

Adobe designed their product to enable printing across platforms and
programs, not to replace online documents.  I agree that it is the best tool
we have right now, but let's see that tool for what it is.  PDFs are great
for..., well, school.  I printed all my forms from the web site and applied
to college without ever setting foot on campus or waiting for snail mail.
It was fantastic.  However, I did not try to read those PDFs on the screen.

That being said, my observations are not academic.  Ask anyone in your
office. No one will tell you PDFs are easy to read.  At best, they'll tell
you that PDFs aren't the worst thing they have ever seen.  PDFs are limited
by their poor viewability.  I always thought this was just a given.  

Writers always do the best we can do within reason.  For me, it is not
within reason to re-work my documents and give myself a migraine unless
there will be a vast improvement.  The Adobe product does not make that
possible.  Time is the other factor.  The time spent putting gas in the
mower could be (and often needs to be) spent editing or maybe improving the
usability of the product.  

Again, this is just my opinion and experience talking.  Congrats to anyone
who can make PDFs appear as clearly as the source doc.

Regards, 

Jessica Nealon
Technical Writer
Paragon Product Assurance Group - CLT
> McKesson Information Solutions, Inc
704-549-7239

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