I have to disagree. PDFs should be formatted for printing - if screen is
your primary aim, PDF is the wrong format.
PDF is typically laid out with an intended page size and shape. Screens
on the other hand vary from phones and tablets (portrait or landscape)
through to large screen monitors. Responsive HTML is supposed to be the
solution across all the different screen shapes and sizes.
On 5/10/2017 6:22 AM, Dyck, Lionel B. (TRA) wrote:
I've received a number of PDF's from different sales organizations and
publishers - each one is formatted for a printing.
1. I am not going to print the file to read it
2. I am going to read it on my workstation monitor
3. My workstation monitor is NOT in vertical page format but is landscape
orientation
4. That means I have to scroll down and then back up for a multi-column
page
5. Adobe Acrobat, and most/all PDF readers, will faithfully present the
supplied PDF I whatever format it receives them and thus does not reflow the
text/images for easy reading based on the platform
6. Epub files are nice but not easily read - same for mobi (which can only
be read by a kindle or kindle app)
7. PDF's that are intended to be read on a workstation monitor should be
formatted for easy reading that way
a. Don't have multiple columns that cross a page boundary
b. Don't split an article among non-contiguous pages
c. Keep the pages to something that can be easily read on a horizontal display
(think 17" display for most sitting around me or smaller if reading on a laptop)
8. Develop a pervasive file format that flows based on the display and is
easy to read and replace PDF's by 2020 (or sooner)
--
Andrew Rowley
Black Hill Software
+61 413 302 386
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