PDF vs. HTML

[geoff-h -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA]

 A few folks have taken me to task for suggesting that if
 formatting is important to your design, then you should
 consider using PDF instead of HTML. The main objections,
 and my rebuttals:

 1. Don't just dump pages online, they won't fit: Agreed. I
 never proposed anything of the sort. Putting a page the
 shape of a typical screen (in general, a VGA monitor or
 something similar) can be quite effective if you design
 your information specifically for the new medium.

 2. HTML lets viewers choose the format: Agreed. But we're
 not talking about cases where the viewer should choose the
 format. If a specific visual appearance is important (which
 it can be), then PDF is the only way to go. If visual
 appearance isn't important, than HTML is fine. As a
 designer, you have to understand which situation applies
 and choose the appropriate medium.

 3. PDF files are huge: Agreed. Big files are big files, and
 small files are small files. If all you need is text, HTML
 is just fine, and smaller. If you are producing a layout
 where the graphics and text must work together (e.g.,
 manuals), HTML is a poor second choice. For such files, the
 PDF file isn't that much bigger than the HTML. PDF is
 surprisingly compact.

 4. PDF doesn't print well: News to me. Several commercial
 printers use it as a preferred format for sending large,
 complex color graphics files for separation across the
 Internet. (See the article on this a few months ago in
 _Publish_.) The same criticism might be applied to any DTP
 application, with equal justice or injustice: there's no
 software so robust that users can't figure out a way to
 prevent it from printing properly.

 Serious objections against PDF that haven't been raised:
 distribution costs (some circumstances require a royalty
 payment?), PDF files can't be fully indexed by Internet
 search engines (or can they?), repurposing information
 isn't as easy as changing the page size.

 --Geoff Hart     @8^{)}     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
 Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.

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