[Web4lib] Optimizing PDF's for online viewing?

[Cary Gordon]

IMHO, the best practice is to create/publish content in XML, then transform
it to PDF, HTML, or whatever you need. It would be possible to make it work
in the other direction (PDF -> XML), but I haven't seen that in practice.

Cary Gordon
The Cherry Hill Company 

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Gilman, Mark
Sent: Monday, March 05, 2007 4:33 PM
To: web4lib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Web4lib] Optimizing PDF's for online viewing?

I am trying to persuade a unit within our organization to consider
distributing a newsletter in a way that makes it more usable for the vast
majority of us who read it online.  Currently, they are simply emailing it
to a large number of readers as a PDF file attachment that is several
megabytes in size.  Obviously, it would be better for them to simply upload
it to the web and send just the URL.  That's a no brainer.
(And implement byte-serving to speed up the download.)
 
It is in optimizing the PDF's for online viewing that I hope to influence
them to either the 8-1/2 x 11 style aspect ratio in favor of something in
landscape mode which can actually be read online without constantly having
to pan vertically and fiddle with the view percentages.  It seems like we
are in the dark ages yet with PDF's online.  I find netLibrary to be just
awful.  
 
Some years ago I recall having stumbled upon some PDF's that were very
nicely done.  The aspect ratio was perfect.  It seems as if there would be
good info around somewhere on best practices for setting up PDF's to be read
online, but I find only cursory information.  In an ideal world, I suppose
PDF would be used mainly as a way to share documents for printing.  In
reality; however, more-and-more organizations simply dump their
multi-hundred page docs online as PDF's and consider they have "published"
their information. Certainly, this is what the Government Printing Office
and other agencies tend to do.
 
Am I overlooking something here?  Where is the push for best practices in
optimizing PDF's for online viewing? Why can't we at least get the aspect
ratios right?  I have access to Acrobat, but I don't use it much so it may
be that there may be well known solutions. (And I do realize that documents
are generally better generated using some other application and then taken
into Acrobat for further processing.) Pointers toward relevant resources or
good examples will be gratefully received.  I wonder if Acrobat can be made
to present info in one format for viewing and another for printing, in a
manner analagous to an XML transformation or analagous to using different
CSS style sheets for different clients.
 
Regards,
Mark 
 
Municipal Reference Librarian / Acting Library Webmaster Dallas Public
Library _______________________________________________
Web4lib mailing list
Web4lib at webjunction.org
http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/