PDF Research Adobe Acrobat Uses...
Transfer Files
Proofing
P/S Utility
Presentations
WWW
Archiving
Forms
EDMS

On-Screen Presentations...

  1. Required Components
  2. Making On-Screen Presentations
  3. Embedding PDF Presentations in HTML
  4. Comparing HTML vs. PDF Presentations
  5. Multimedia - Advantages & Disadvantages of PDF
  6. Creating Navigation Controls in Acrobat
  7. Creating Rollovers
  8. Acrobat 3.0 Transitions

HTML programming does not lend itself well to use as an on-screen presentation medium (see one HTML vs. PDF comparison below). It's clunky, screen refresh is slow, fonts are limited and it is hard to create in.

By contrast, PDF file creation can take place using virtually any program, including presentation generation packages like Adobe Persuasion and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Once created, these files can be distilled into PDF files that can be played full-screen right out of Acrobat Exchange®. Adding links, transition effects, bookmarks, and indexes, PDF files become very flexible media for presenting information from a wide variety of sources - GIS files, Capture scans, Quark files, vector graphics, screen captures - you name it. And the pages can be different sizes and shapes.

This is terrific for trainers, for the creation of help files, kiosks, or combinations thereof.

1. Required Components
  • Minimum system requirements
  • PDF conversion software - PDFWriter and/or Acrobat Distiller®
  • PDF editing software - Acrobat Exchange®
  • the knowledge how to use these programs

Component Availability
The Adobe Acrobat software bundle (including Distiller, Exchange, PDFWriter, PSPrinter, Catalog, and the Capture plug-in) can be purchased directly via mail order for about $200.

2. Making On-Screen Presentations

There are two quick ways to create a PDF file:

  1. Save or Export the file directly in the PDF format from a growing list of programs - Adobe Illustrator 5.x and above, PageMaker 6.5, etc.
  2. Choose PDFWriter (available in the Adobe Acrobat package) as the print driver. Instead of printing to a printer, the file will be output to the PDF format - works well for Microsoft Word, Excel. Does NOT work well for programs using Postscript - QuarkXPress, Photoshop Clipped Paths, imported Illustrator files, etc. The other risk you run is that the fonts will not be embedded which means that the receiver may not be able to see the fonts.

The "clean" way to create a PDF file is to:

  1. Save your source file, regardless originating program, as a Postscript file with the fonts embedded. The file may be many pages in length.
  2. Open Distiller and select the appropriate "Job Options" regarding font embedding and particularly "Compression." For proof e-mailing we recommend 72dpi compression resolution.

Modify the file in Adobe Acrobat Exchange®:

  1. Open Exchange and edit your files - add other pages, crop, rotate, specify full-screen transition effects, create links and bookmarks, append notes, etc.
  2. "Save As" an optimized file and add security passwords if desired. Optimizing reduces the size of the PDF file and adds byteserving (a.k.a., linearization) - which means that the end user will be downloading files one page at a time while the full document downloads in the background.

The same PDF file can be used to make prints, present on-screen presentations, store as CD-ROM Read Me files or training modules, or upload via internet/intranet for use across a network.

3. Embedding PDF Presentations in HTML

33K
A collection of visuals from our presentation on "The PDF Format: Universal Publishing" is now available in PDF format. Best viewed with the PDFViewer Helper.

Throughout this website are links (like the one above) to "Universal Publishing" modules of a single presentation. These modules are PDF files that were created in Adobe Persuasion and enhanced using Acrobat Exchange.

The purpose of placing these modules is twofold:

  • First, to provide our guests with presentation frames that expound the perspective of each of the sections of this site. In fact, from the menu file, there is a link back to the HTML page from which the module originated ("Return") in case the user wishes to see the HTML pages related to each module topic.
  • Secondly, to provide our guests a sample of how PDF files can be made available on a website with links between them that access other PDF files or HTML pages of the site.

Complete Set of "Universal Publishing" Modules
  • PDF01.pdf - A single frame that is the Menu link for the other four modules.
  • PDF02.pdf - "Where Are We? Where Are We Headed?" 8 frames that relate to the Universal Publishing pages of this website.
  • PDF03.pdf - "What is Universal Publishing/Design?" 8 frames that outline the challenge for publishers in a technologically diverse and rapidly evolving media age.
  • PDF04.pdf - "PDF: Building Block of Universal Publishing" 13 frames that outline what PDF is and how it compares to HTML.
  • PDF05.pdf - "What is Adobe Acrobat?" 9 frames that schematically portray the relationship between the components that make up Adobe Acrobat.

There are several ways to access these modules depending upon the preferences of the user:

  1. Set your browser to view them using PDFViewer. The Reader menu bar will load itself within the browser window (Netscape 3.x and above, and Internet Explorer 4.x). The benefit of doing this is that nothing has to be downloaded. Assuming that the created pages were optimized (a function of Exchange 3.x), Acrobat Reader 3.x will download and display individual pages while the balance of the document is caching in the background (see byteserving). Also, the links work perfectly well between pages of different modules because the five files reside within their addressed locations on the server (in this case, all in the same folder).
  2. Set the browser to view using Reader or Exchange. This will initiate a complete download of the file before viewing offline. However, unless each of the other files are also downloaded, there is no way for links between modules to take place.
  3. Mouse click (right click on PCs) on the link and Save Link As... the file (or complete set of files) for viewing on the desktop. If all of the files are downloaded and saved in the same folder, the links will work as they were intended. There are two other benefits:
    • The user can choose whether to view in Reader, or view/edit in Exchange.
    • Depending on the configuration and speed of the web connection, the "hidden field" forms enhancement works with greater reliability.

4. Comparing HTML vs. PDF Presentations

How does PDF measure up against HTML for on-screen presentations?

PowerPoint is the de facto standard program for creating on-screen presentations. PowerPoint 98 has a handy Save to HTML file menu item that creates a frameset HTML series of pages and .gifs (or .jpg, as specified) with its own navigation controls (Javascript) and bookmarks (see HTML sample). The full composite size of the resulting "website" of HTML pages used in this sample is 1,900K. No fonts are embedded.

The same PowerPoint presentation can be saved to Postscript (23Mb) and then distilled to a font-embedded, vector PDF (see PDF sample). The resulting optimized file is only 83K. Navigation controls are a part of the Reader interface. Bookmarks and hyperlinks can be added.

HTML website
(1,900K)
PDF file
(83K)

72dpi resolution Bitmap (.gif or .jpg)

Limitless resolution Vector (.pdf format)

Pixelates at 256 colors

Does not pixelate

Not scalable

Scalable

Only the outline is text searchable (if added)

Entire file is searchable

JavaScript navigation controls and will not work within a frameset

Reader navigation controls

Bookmarks are automatic

Bookmarks must be added, but are editable

No hyperlinking in presentation graphics

Hyperlinking is standard

No security restrictions

Standard PDF security restrictions

The big difference is the quality of the presentation images - bitmap images are much bigger and lower resolution than their vector counterparts which accounts for the size disparity of the two solutions. The JavaScript navigation controls are cleverly implemented but have at least one drawback - they do not work within framesets.

5. Multimedia - Advantages & Disadvantages of PDF

Disadvantages -

  1. Difficult to edit - must go back to original to make changes and then re-convert to PDF. Acrobat is NOT a presentation creation program - it services PDF.
  2. Not as many transition effects as PowerPoint in a presentation environment.

Advantages -

  1. Totally cross-platform and cross-version. I witnessed theembarrassment of an esteemed colleague once who brought his PowerPoint presentation to a client only to learn that they didn't have his version of the program so he couldn't use it. Most people have Reader by this point. If they don't, well you can download it for free or bring your own or present from the web directly (see next point).
  2. PDFs can be up-loaded to and played from the web. I have constrained myself to creating all of my presentations as PDFs and then posting them on the web as interlinked modules. That way, if I get someone interested in my work, I can send them directly to my website, or access it from their machine. I am NEVER caught without my presentation materials. Also, attendees have something better than presentation notes - they have all the presentation graphics and links that they can email to other interested parties.
  3. It is so much better than HTML versions of presentations and just as universal (see comparison above).
  4. You can create your pages in anything - any size or shape, and tack them together once they are converted to PDF. You can convert existing digital artwork without having to repurpose your old stuff.
  5. PDFs are smaller, more scalable than PowerPoint, and have better kerning.

Bottomline - There are constraints using anything. But I think Acrobat makes it easier to use existing materials, create dynamite pages, access Quicktime if necessary, and allows you more flexibility for mixing and matching visuals in succeeding presentations. I use PDF for everything these days.

6. Creating Navigation Controls in Acrobat

There are actually three tools in Acrobat for creating actionable items. You can use the "Link" tool to create hyperlinks, you can use the "Form" tool to create "field buttons", or you can use bookmarks. All allow you to ascribe any one of a variety of Actions to the link, field, or text (Go to View, Import Form Data, JavaScript, Movie, Open File, WWW Link, etc.).

Novices usually start off experimenting with the "Link" tool but there is much more that you can do with a "field" button than there is with a "link" button. For instance:

  1. A Field button can be copied and then pasted - either within a document or onto other documents
  2. You can duplicate Field buttons throughout a document by using the Tools/Forms/Fields/Duplicate menu item.
  3. Multiple Field buttons can be click selected for copying, aligning, space distributing, or resizing.
  4. Field buttons can be named. This means that if you change the characteristic of the button (appearance or action) the changes will be applied throughout the document to any field button with the same name.
  5. Field buttons can be programmed with multiple actions - including rollovers, hidden/show fields, mouse enter/exit triggering, etc.
  6. Field buttons can contain icons (other PDF files) or text - ideal for the creation of navigation controls.
  7. ... there are many others.

In fact, the field button capability is so feature rich, there are many multimedia or CD-ROM publishing projects that should be authored in Acrobat PDF rather than Director or Authorware (two highly touted MM programs that have much higher learning curves, expensive cross-platform functionality, color palette issues, etc.).

As for bookmarks -- for some projects, the best solution is using Action-laden bookmarks to navigate with. You can apply Actions to bookmarks (primarily Execute Menu Items, Open File, Back, Search) using Bookmark Properties. This is ideal if your documents already have extensive bookmarks and you want to save your user from having to learn the entire navigation bar of Reader to use your publication. If you use this solution, you will probably want to set your documents to open with bookmarks (File/Document Info/Open/Bookmarks and Page). Copying bookmarks between documents involves using the Document/Insert Pages command to import a document that has the bookmarks you have created into a different document (this may require some trial and error).

7. Creating Rollovers

Here are three techniques for creating rollovers in Adobe Acrobat:

  1. The simplest way to create a rollover is available on Acrobat 4.x. When creating a form field, one of the "Field Properties" is "Short Description:" Whatever is filled into this field is text that will appear in small yellow box whenever the user rolls over the field
  2. If you use the forms tool, you can create a button field that can be programmed to perform a "rollover." This is generally the way to go if you have a very limited amount of text that will fit on one line to fill the button.
  3. If you have more text in mind, then create a two text fields. One will act as the trigger and while it may not be visible, its APPEARANCE is never HIDDEN. Call it "Trigger".

    The other text field is HIDDEN and it contains your message. Call it "Text".

    Once you create "Trigger" and "Text", you program the trigger using the ACTIONS tab - for "mouse enter" and "mouse exit" actions. For instance, on "mouse enter" select "SHOW-HIDE FIELD" as the action and specify SHOW "Text". Then on "mouse exit" select "SHOW-HIDE FIELD" as the action and specify HIDE "Text". The net result is a rollover.

8. Acrobat 3.0 Transitions

From Gordon Kent's website on Internet Publishing with Acrobat...

Acrobat 3.0 transitions files, must be viewed with Acrobat 3.x Reader or Exchange. These are samples of the different types of page transition effects and include links to download the EPS files which contain the transition syntax. Additionally, these transitions can be found on the Adobe Acrobat 3.0 Reader CD-ROM.

What are these files?

XSAMPLE1.PDF and XSAMPLE2.PDF are examples of some of the transition effects available in Acrobat 3.0.

Note: Both files are PDF 1.2 files so they are compatible only with the Acrobat 3.0 viewers like Adobe Reader and Exchange.

How are these transitions created?

The transitions, as with two examples files, are created by placing an EPS file which contain special pdfmark operators onto a page in the document. Place the EPS file in your document using a page layout program like Adobe PageMaker, QuarkXPress, Ventura Publisher, Adobe FrameMaker, etc. When converted from PostScript to a PDF file with Acrobat Distiller 3.0, the pdfmarks in the EPS files define the transitions for each page.

Note: You need Acrobat Distiller 3.0 to create the transitions.

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