PDF Research Universal Publishing Design... Definition Where We Are The Future Opportunities

The Future... With the spectacular growth of the web and other trends, repurposing of already published materials will be a growth industry. "Repurposing" is a catch-all term for conversion of a broad range of different publishing types and components: Printed Documents Electronic documents make up the smallest fraction of a percent of the total mass of published materials today. Converting these into electronic files will take two forms: 1. Scan to bitmap for indexing 2. Capturing the content via OCR or CAPTURE Digital Documents Files that are already in electronic form can be repurposed a number of ways. Many are already being taken apart and recomposed in HTML for inclusion on the Web. Many others are being converted to the PDF format because it retains the integrity of the source document much better - fonts, typography, layout, and vector graphics. Photos and other Bitmap Graphics Bitmap graphics that are large in storage size and saved in a broad range of file types are being compressed and converted to more universal formats - .tif, .gif, and .jpg - primarily for accessing in HTML documents. PDF conversion of documents incorporating bitmap images offers very dramatic compression ratios of 50:1 (or even considerably smaller). Vector Graphics Maps, logos, and fonts are normally vector graphics that are small in size and perfectly scalable for viewing and printing purposes. Since HTML cannot handle vector graphics, they need to be converted to bitmaps before conversion to .gif or .jpg formats. PDF documents are not only universally available for viewing on the Web, but they compress vector graphics up to about 4:1 ratio. "By 2004, the pile of information on your desk will be 30 percent paper and 70 percent electronic, compared to 90 percent paper today." Dr. Keith T. Davidson, Executive Director Xplor International HTML The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly PDF The Good, The Better, & The Best Good Cross-platform, relatively fast, searchable, hyperlinks Good Cross-platform, relatively fast, searchable, hyperlinks Bad Language "held hostage" in browser wars Better Browser independent and backward compatible with previous versions Ugly 1 Layout is subject to unpredictable client settings Best 1 Client settings does not affect layout Ugly 2 Layout tools are coarse and quirky Best 2 Layout tools are user's choice - the best that have been developed in DTP Ugly 3 Terrible typesetting - one font,client defined Best 3 Fonts are embedded - all layout and typesetting is retained Ugly 4 Is not WYSIWYG - Color palette compatibility problems Best 4 Is WYSIWYG - On-screen, cross platform proofing is excellent - color is not an issue Ugly 5 No vector support - not scalable on-screen and terrible printing Best 5 Total vector support - scalable on-screen and great printing Then Why Use HTML At All? The internet is based on HTML at this stage of development. Clients are reluctant to download viewer software or files that require a viewer. HTML format documents are scrollable and easier to incrementally update for web use. PDF documents are page-by-page navigable and printable. Knowledge of the benefits of the Portable Document Format is lacking. Downloading files affects monthly transfer fees for website owners more than browsing HTML does. Bandwidth issues and speed of interactivity favor file size factors over resolution integrity. For another comparison of formats, visit InfoCon America's comparison of PDF against printing and non-PDF formats (i.e. SGML tagging, HTML). Return to PDF Research Companion home page. a production of Performance Graphics ©1998 The Miller De Wulf Corporation