PDF usability and best practices?

[Thomas Edelblute]

I have a friend in the City who has been dealing with a lot of printer issues recently.  The print server has 32-bit drivers on it, and none-of the computers with Windows 7-64 bit can print to the print server, but the Windows 7-32 bit can.


From: Web technologies in libraries [mailto:WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Doug Mckay
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2012 6:57 AM
To: WEB4LIB at LISTSERV.ND.EDU
Subject: Re: [WEB4LIB] PDF usability and best practices?

PDF related but off topic.

Our library has 10 public computers using Win7.
We replaced our previous copier/printer a while back.

The problem as I understand it is that all but one computer cannot print PDFs.

It time consuming to switch patrons around and or use staff level machines to print PDFs.

Could this be:
1) A problem with the new printer copier?
2) A problem with the PDF files themselves?
3) Could the OS be partially responsible?
Thank You
Doug McKay
Lindale Library in Lindale, Texas
On Fri, Mar 16, 2012 at 7:58 AM, Bob Rasmussen <ras at anzio.com<mailto:ras at anzio.com>> wrote:
This is a partial answer, based on what I know of PDFs' internal
structures.

A key consideration is whether the PDF is "linearized". If it is, then the
browser does not need to download the entire PDF before some of it (the
first page) can be viewed.

Other factors to consider:

* Overall file size (as mentioned by someone else)
* Number and type of embedded fonts
* Whether it's "searchable". When pages of text are scanned, each is an
image. When it has had OCR done on it, it becomes searchable (and could
also be read aloud by screen reader software).

On Thu, 15 Mar 2012, Wilhelmina Randtke wrote:

> I am looking for recommendations or guidelines on best practices for
> displaying PDFs on the internet.
>
> What I don't want:  I am not looking for ADA compliance.  I am able to find
> that.
>
> What I do want:  I am looking for anything about ability to access the
> document - so:
>   -  How large a file size is acceptable?  (I anticipate U.S. visitors to
> the project this is for.)
>   -  How long in pages a document can be before it becomes overwhelming to
> a reader?
>   -  Any size constraints imposed by different PDF viewing devices and
> connection speeds?
>   -  Ways to represent a really long document - like a novel - and
> represent it in meaningful ways in PDF format, without doing a single giant
> PDF (and without becoming married to technology other than PDF-A and html)?
>
> Any pointers to guidelines or best practices on displaying voluminous PDFs
> would be appreciated.
>
> -Wilhelmina Randtke
>
> ============================
>
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>
> 2012-03-15
>
Regards,
....Bob Rasmussen,   President,   Rasmussen Software, Inc.

personal e-mail: ras at anzio.com<mailto:ras at anzio.com>
 company e-mail: rsi at anzio.com<mailto:rsi at anzio.com>
         voice: (US) 503-624-0360 (9:00-6:00 Pacific Time)
           fax: (US) 503-624-0760<tel:503-624-0760>
           web: http://www.anzio.com
 street address: Rasmussen Software, Inc.
                10240 SW Nimbus, Suite L9
                Portland, OR  97223  USA

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--
Doug McKay
ILL / Cataloger
Lindale Library
Lindale, TX 75771-1570
(903) 882-1900
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