Re: Re: Adobe And TRACE Launch Enhanced PDF Access Via Email

Robert,
Sorry to get your hackles up.  Perhaps we should just agree to disagree.  It feels
like we are getting into an emotional (and un-resolvable) Mac vs. IBM or Navigator
vs. IE debate.

Really I am hoping to "see the light" with regard to the utility of PDF.  I still
don't get it.  I understand that PDF could be a good in-house tool, or appropriate
for a limited target audience.  I understand that it would have been a really nice
option five years ago.  I understand that if lawyers and contracts are involved,
then the hard copy print version can assume disproportionate importantance.  (But
this comes back to my original observation about groups whose perceived mandate is
to provide print materials, even at the expense of providing actual information.)
I too sometimes prefer reading print over reading the screen, and I don't care for
jagged 72 dpi graphics on a 300 dpi laser printer, but I am most intolerant of the
forced interruption of an extra application when I am busy browsing, and graphics
can be scaled for good display on screen and in print.

From a modern day "serve the general public" view point, I *still* cannot think of
an application where PDF makes sense.

Sure, if you already have the PDF files, making HTML is more work.  Converting (no
matter the formats) is an extra step.  My point is that making the graphic in the
first place takes a fixed amount of effort, so choose tools that are "web enabled"
rather than PDF oriented.  This is, of course, much easier now days.

I agree about wasting bandwidth on the list.  This must have been discussed
elsewhere.  Can anyone point me to an archive?  Am I the only one on the WAI who
does not understand the MAINSTREAM utility of PDF?

Received on Wednesday, 2 September 1998 11:03:51 UTC