I think your observations are good ones, Adam, but you may not find the data you're seeking. I've looked for it, too. I know your frustration.
In the absence of information about your specific use case, some food for thought: * For the inexperienced user, well-formed HTML/XHTML is designed to do a lot of little things transparently. If you aren't a frequent user of Acrobat, on the other hand, you could easily overlook controls that exist to make it easier. (Look at the first link I pointed to before, in which they talk about "reflow" controls in PDF -- not enabled by default, and most users won't know about it. That's just one example. You can think of a dozen more in a 30-minute brainstorm.) The point here is that you're asking/requiring the user to get familiar with one more piece of software that he/she may not care to learn well enough to extract the needed data. IT people tend to accept a level of complexity that the average human will not, and I find they often need to be reminded of that. * Along the same lines, HTML/XHTML is inherently designed to be repurposed. Acrobat is designed first and foremost as a printing intermediary. Acrobat is a wonderful program, but that bias shines through; I know Nielsen emphasizes that, but it bears repeating. * Sometimes showing is better than telling. Know what your PDF looks like on a PDA or a cellphone? If you're posting a resource for business travelers or podcast listeners, that might be relevant because a mobile device may be their only choice. Those IT people you're talking with are users too, so _show_ them what doesn't make sense about their idea by going along with it for initial testing. Experience is even harder to refute than a big pile of studies. I hope this helps, Jeff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=25459 ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
