Duff Johnson’s PDF Perspective

In a second article for Planet PDF, I offer a frank discussion of the PDF-to-ISO move, along with (yet another) dose of unsolicited advice for Adobe Systems.

The first article offered some context for Adobe’s move. For this second piece, I discussed the question with a number of industry leaders, several of whom are quoted. I also asked Adobe Systems to formally respond to a number of rather pointed questions. Adobe’s Director of Product Management, Sarah Rosenbaum, was kind enough to provide answers on the record.

For those with an interest in how or why the PDF Reference 1.7 will (or should) become an ISO Standard, this one’s for you.

Some of you may have noticed that I’m quite a fan of bookmarks. I harp on the subject frequently - not because I’m so genuinely enthralled with this longstanding (and standout) feature of PDF , but because bookmarks are so under-utilized, thus providing easy fodder for ignoramuses posing as usability experts.

If I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. Virtually ALL PDFs over 10 pages (and many under) should ALWAYS have bookmarks, and the bookmarks should BE DISPLAYED when the PDF is opened. There’s just no excuse!

My latest article on AcrobatUsers.com is a survey of some (not all) of the Adobe and 3rd party plug-ins useful for bookmarking PDF files. The article was written in 2006, so certain observations may be a little dated. Hopefully it will offer the willing Bookmarker (you do exist, don’t you?) inspiration.

Go forth, and make thy PDFs easier to use!

I was on vacation with penguins when Adobe announced that the latest 1.7 edition of the venerable PDF Reference was to be shepherded towards an ISO Standard via AIIM.  I returned to a pile of email.

What’s it all mean?  I’ve written one article on the subject to offer a little context and to invite further exploration. ”PDF goes to ISO, Some Background“, the first in a two-part series, is now posted on Planet PDF. There’s an interesting post by Adobe’s Andrew Shebanow which describes some of the sentiment behind this move.

For a really good introduction to the ways in which Standards are meaningful to consumers (and how to think about them), look no further than Rob Weir’s great post; “How Standards Bring Consumer Choice“.

The big players in software standards are moving fast right now, and Adobe has thrown PDF into the standards ring at a very interesting time.  Other industry biggies, Microsoft and IBM in particular, but including ISO, ECMA, AIIM and many, many other very interested parties, are presently at full squabble. There are serious fireworks between self-proclaimed uber-practical proponents of Microsoft’s OOXML versus the (relative) idealists like IBM’s Bob Sutor who argue for the (let’s face it) far more genuinely “open” OpenDocument (ODF) format.

(Do I show my colors in calling it “Microsoft’s OOXML” instead of just “OOXML”?)

My second article will bring together some comments from a few of the real grandmasters of PDF, and should be ready in a week or two.

This post was inspired by new AcrobatUsers.com member GloriaMc, who wrote a very nice comment on an earlier post regarding the Acrobat Help file.

Using PDF for a help system is a great idea - providing you don’t make some basic mistakes, keep true to what PDF is, and don’t force it to be what it isn’t.

Some general rules for implementing Help documentation in PDF format might go like this:

1) RESPECT THE PRINTED PAGE, aka, think about what happens if the user prints the document.  This means, always plan the page-size for the occasion. US Letter?  A4?  Will they need page or section numbers?  Maybe you prefer landscape viewing on-screen?  Maybe you want to provide BOTH screen-optimized AND print-optimized documentation?

What you DON’T do in PDF is ignore page-size.  A PDF is a page-oriented thing.  Work with that, and you’ll be happy.

2) Consider how the documentation will be used, and where. If you anticipate largely on-screen use, then layout the documentation in a screen-friendly landscape model, and use screen-friendly (and tested) font selections, sizes and styles, based on exactly how your document will display.  You’ll want to consider whether you want the toolbars or even menu bars to display on your document.  By hiding the toolbars and providing your own customized navigation tools, you can help users “dig into” your content and get what they need far faster than with the “generic” Reader interface.

If you anticipate (or prefer to suggest) that users should print the documentation, or relevant subsections thereof, then clearly you’ll want to use printed-page friendly layouts. When you do this, consider whether you need to accommodate users from different countries. The European A4 page-size standard is longer but narrower than the 8.5″ x 11″ of US Letter standard. It’s safest to presume A4 “slimness” and US-Letter page-lengths… assuming that you don’t intend to support both page sizes independently!

On the other hand, you might want to include layouts for BOTH onscreen and printed applications, or design in a way that accommodates both in the same design. Either way, it’s worth some thought.  If you decide to develop separate screen and print-oriented layouts, know that you can easily combine them in a single PDF document, and provide a way for users to BOTH read the Help file online AND simply click a button to be offered a print-formatted version of the current section. Pretty cool!

3) ALWAYS bookmark the PDF down to the lowest practical organizational level in the file. Your Word file must be fully and carefully structured - and you must also be a little lucky - in order for Adobe Acrobat’s Convert to Adobe PDF macro to work perfectly, especially on larger or more complex documents. Failing that, there are excellent 3rd party tools such as ARTS’ Aerialist Professional, ISI’s Compose and others for adding highly structured bookmarks to PDF documents.

I cannot emphasize this point enough. There are far, FAR too many PDF manuals out there sans bookmarks. Disgraceful!  See my article about “Tightship Associates” for more details on what bookmarks can really mean in simple productivity terms.

The lack of Bookmarks is a serious drag on the economy, dang it! 

4)  Once bookmarked, ENSURE that bookmarks are visible to the user when the file is opened.  A trivial point?  Not at all… our testing has shown that only 20% of files out there with bookmarks actually DISPLAY the bookmarks when the PDF is opened for viewing.  It’s a simple fix, people.  File >> Properties >> Initial View; take it from there.

5) Consider little touches like a ”Print this section” button.  It’s easy functionality to add using Acrobat JavaScript, and it’s just one of the many ways you can use simple PDF tricks to provide a rich and flexible end-user experience that can precisely accommodate real-world usage.

An example:  We might add “print this section” buttons to a manual, but for a section that includes a form, perhaps we do something different.  Here, we might add a special buttons to the form that print JUST the form.  Then, we change the section-print button to skip over the form.  Why?  Why not?  It’s EXACTLY the sort of thing end-users determine that they want and need want.  That’s up to them, we just build it.  And so can you.

Shamelessly self-promotional as always, I would like to direct the attention of regular readers of this Blog (both of you) to my latest feature article for AcrobatUsers.com on PDF in Government.

There are, of course, “stand-out” stories, selected for inspirational value. As you may know, however, most of government remains mired in a sea of unstructured content, paper forms, inaccessible documents and other document worflows and applications simply not “fit for purpose”. Voting systems, anyone? If you worry about what’s happening to the taxpayer’s dollar, it’s a real shame to realize how slow governments overall are in adapting to these technologies.

With 4 selected friends, a modest budget and a few smart county clerks to help out, I could design and build a letter-perfect standardized voting system using off-the-shelf PDF and server technology, regular paper, printers and scanners, all in about 6-9 months. It could handle several “standard” types of elections and provide paper-trails, transparent calculations, instant precinct-level reporting, etc, etc., more or less whatever you want. Do they call me, or someone like me? They call Diebold.

Anyhow… maybe you were thinking: “Hey, whenever you are done, I’d like to read that article, thanks”. Here it is.

Pinch me, I’m back.

While news that Adobe is taking PDF itself to ISO did indeed percolate down to the Southern Ocean, I wasn’t paying that much attention.  I was instead taking in penguins, seals, ice, whales… and more good food than I deserve.

I’ll get back to business later with some reflections on what (if anything) PDF “standardization” might mean, both within and without the marketing domain.

But not now, thanks.

In Antarctica, we visited Elephant Island, where Shackleton’s men lived out some rough days, the Weddell Sea, Paradise Bay, the Lemarie Channel and other places of such beauty I can’t and won’t even try to describe them.  It was, and I recognize the term is grossly overused, awesome.

Those so inclined can check out Antarctica in 5 Minutes, my video offering on YouTube.  I’ve also posted a page of selected stills.