What does PDF stand
for?
PDF stands for Portable Document Format.
What is PDF?
PDF is a unique type of cross platform file format
developed by Adobe.
Why is PDF important?
PDF is Cross Platform, Navigational, Ultra-Printable,
Ultra-Viewable and Smaller than other conventional
document formats.
Cross Platform: a cross-platform file format
that represents documents independent of the software,
hardware, and the operating system used to create
the file. In simple words, you can read a PDF document
in Windows that was created on a Macintosh that
you downloaded from a Web site running Unix.
Navigational: objects built into the PDF file format allow users
and creators to expand the usefulness of a publication.
Such items include: Internal and external links,
bookmarks, thumbnails of each page, article threads,
form fields, buttons for navigation, notes to annotate
information, views to allow a user to magnify or
reduce a page to fit within the user's computer
screen.
Ultra-Printable: PDF files are based on the PostScript language imaging
model. This enables sharp, color-precise printing
on almost all printers.
Ultra-Viewable: On screen PDF files have a precise color match regardless
of the monitor used. PDF files allow the user to
magnify documents up to 800% without the loss of
clarity in text or graphics.
Smaller: PDF files can be optimized to reduce their file
sizes. PDF files for example can be 1/5 of the size
of their HTML counterparts.
What strengths
do PDF files have on the Internet?
PDF files have
many of the same characteristics as HTML documents.
PDF files can
be viewed within Netscape and Internet Explorer
windows. These files can then be saved for offline
use or printed.
PDF files
can be byte served over the Web to faster access
larger amount of information. This process is
similar to the process of streaming video files
so you don't have to download the full file before
you can use/view it. After grabbing the first
part of data, page-on-demand continues to download
the rest of the file.What this means is that a
user could read the first page and then jump immediately
to the seventh page without having to wait.
A combination
of HTML and PDF format enables publishers to serve
content to their users in its most useful format
based on the demands of content versus technology.
PDF files need
no translation, compression, or filtering on most
popular Web servers.
Full-text search
capabilities are available for PDF files.
PDF takes document security to the next level.
Creators of PDF files can prevent the copying
of text, graphics, making changes and printing
a document.
Developers
can create their own software to read, create
or modify PDF files without special permission
or licensing.
Documents created
in generally any program that can print, can create
a PDF document.
PDF files seal
the gap that many developers find when they become
frustrated creating content for the Web. "I
want it to look just like this! Why can't it look
just like as if I make it in Word, Pagemaker,
or (add program name here)? I know how to do it
there!" All this without being a HTML, Java
or CGI guru.
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