Internet ?

[Travis Byrne]

Hello All

I am not computer literate. I just hack my way thru.

My question is: What is PDF format?
Is it quicker than just putting in on the regular browser page or what?
Please enlighten me

Travis

 

[llangatwgnedd]

And,
is there any free software where I can create my own pdf. files

 

[Midnight]

a pdf is a public domain file... file where you don't mind people reading it, but they can't edit or copy parts of it.

they're read (and written) using Adobe Acrobat; there's a few versions available depending on what you wanna do with em... the normal reader is a free download from Adobe

 

[cd]

you can make them online from adobe's website
https://createpdf.adobe.com/index.pl/19 ... P=IE&v=AHP
looks like you need to register though.
I fortunately have a copy of acrobat 6 (on loan from work ) so I've never used the online service

cd

 

[Argee]

It's actually an acronym for Portable Document Format (can be read on any computer) and underneath everything else, it's really a printer file.

Adobe Acrobat free reader will read any .pdf but will NOT create them. There are some free creators, including "pdfedit995" which you can get here:

http://www.pdf995.com/pdfedit.html

Ray.

 

[Travis Byrne]

Thanks everyone
Maybe in a 100 years, I will be up todate (Where youall are now.)

Travis

 

[Midnight]

It's actually an acronym for Portable Document Format (can be read on any computer) and underneath everything else, it's really a printer file.

I stand corrected.....

 

[Anonymous]

Stands for Portable Document Format.

Basically, Adobe wanted to be the top dogs of high end printing and document production for mags, books, newspapers etc. and when one created material for professional bureaus, one used Postscript (Adobes 'standard') for output and pantone colours to ensure you got exactly what you wanted.
Postscript became less popular as the internet age took over and also there were inconsistencies in driver versions (had to check with the bureau to see which they had) and quality and so PDF was born.
PDF format allows anyone to produce 'copy' ready to be sent to a bureau for printing without the need for the right postscript drivers etc. and it allows one to look at the finished article on the screen in WYSIWYG format.

The usual way to create PDF output is to use Adobe Acrobat software and the way to read it is with Adobe Acrobat Reader which is free. We are up to version 7.

With Adobe Acrobat, you can also set security levels to stop people copying or even printing your work should you wish

 

[Anonymous]

If you have access to a unix system, and are feeling masochistic, troff can be used to generate pdf docs. (troff was one of THE original text formatting tools, produced and enhanced by the likes of Brian Kernighan...and you don't get much better pedigree than that)

ghostview is a common GPL pdf viewer, and I'm pretty sure there's a ghostwriter too, also GPL, to produce them. I know ghostview works in windoze (cos i've used it), but not sure about writer.

 

[Anonymous]

and to answer Travis's original question, if it's just a fairly basic text doc you want to publish on the web, then a standard web page (html or whatever) will be quicker both to create, and for the person browsing your web page.

If, however, you have complex graphics, or large volume docs, then a pdf is one way to go. You could also do the same in, foro example, ms word, although of course that is easier for people to take and use as their own. I often get the impression that pdfs are used mostly when companies want web users to read their lilterature, but not be able to take and modify - simply cos acrobat reader is free and everyone (probably) has it, whereas acrobat writer is licensed, costs money, so joe-public doesn't generally have it.

 

[Philly]

Hi All
I have been using this to make PDF files
http://www.cutepdf.com/
Its a freebie, too!
Cheers
Philly

 

[Anonymous]

Hi All
I have been using this to make PDF files
http://www.cutepdf.com/
Its a freebie, too!

Special introductory price $49. How do you make out that's a freebie?

Andrew

 

[Anonymous]

Okay, it seems you are probably talking about CutePDF Writer:

http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/Writer.asp

Andrew

 

[Terry Smart]

Andrew, from what I can see on the site I think the 'express' version is a freebie.

We use pdf's as a useful way of sending documents to people without having to worry which word processing system they are using... despite Microsoft's best efforts, still not everyone uses or has word after all!
We have information on our website in pdf format so people can view it and print it and we send invoices to our customers in pdf format. In most cases it seems to work very well.

I'm sure in used to be included with Windows though, and I've recently found out that it is not in with XP. Strange. Still, it's a free download for the reader.

 

[Philly]

Andrew
Sorry, yes thats the one!!
It appears as a "printer"-when you have a document ready you "print" it using the Cutepdf printer and it saves it as a PDF file. Works great (and my kinda price :wink: )
Cheers
Philly

 

[Les Mahon]

PDF is also heavily used for displaying scanned documents 'cause you have an image of the original but can also have the "text" available for searching etc.

It can be very space hungry if the compression is not done right. CutePDF as recomended here is the best bet for free creation, though the products from Adove themselves produce the "best" in terms of size and functionality.

I use PDF for nearly every projet I work on - being in electronic document management I would! It is not neccesairly the best way to do what it does, but it certainly has the best market penetration.