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Subject:Re: PDF versus HTML From:Glenn Weir <weir -at- PLATINUM -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 15 Oct 1996 10:43:03 -0600
On Mon, 14 Oct 1996 12:27:05 -0700 Mary Anthony
<mary -at- PERSISTENCE -dot- COM> wrote:
>>Our company is going to move our reference documentation online.
>>The current debate is whether to use PDF or HTML as a document
>>format.
We are also struggling with this topic. I think in the end we will provide
both formats (it's what the users want).
I t has been my experience that techies (e.g., engineers) prefer HTML;
non-technical end users are fine with PDF.
>>PDF PROS
>>===============================
<snip>
-Fidelity to the printed page. This is a blessing for technical support as
they can refer directly to a page number (for example, page 2-5) when
helping a customer over the phone; HTML does not have the concepts of
pages (yet).
>>PDF Cons
>>==============================
>>User's have to download Acrobat rather than use their original
>>browser.
The Acrobat 3.0 plug-in allows you to view PDF files in Netscape and
Microsoft Explorer. It's a nice feature.
Also, some internet search engines (Verity, for example) allow you to
search PDFs files at web sites just as you would HTML.
