TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: In Defense of PDFs From:David Knopf <david -at- KNOPF -dot- COM> Date:Fri, 6 Mar 1998 10:19:05 -0800
At 10:45 AM 3/6/98 -0600, Wing, Michael J wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Michael Johnson [SMTP:michaelj -at- oecmed -dot- com]
>> Sent: Friday, March 06, 1998 10:23 AM
>> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>> Subject: In Defense of PDFs
>>
>> One thing I really like about PDF images is that they are scalable. You =
>> can zoom in and really see the details - even on a laptop. It is a =
>> great way to put B-sized schematics on line. I can't imagine how I'd do =
>> that with HTML or anything else for that matter.
>>
>> Happy Friday from a snowy Salt Lake City!
>>
>> Mike Johnson
>> OEC Medical Systems
>> Michaelj -at- oecmed -dot- com
>>
>Ok, here's how. The following increases the size of the schematic GIF by a
>factor of 1.5 every time it (the image) is clicked. It decreases the size
>by a factor of 1.5 whenever the image is double-clicked.
>
><img id="MyImage" src="Schematic.gif" alt="My Schematic" WIDTH="40"
>HEIGHT="40">
>
><script language=VBScript>
>
> Sub MyImage_onclick()
> MyImage.Width = MyImage.Width * 1.5
> MyImage.Height = MyImage.Height * 1.5
> End Sub
>
> Sub MyImage_dblclick()
> MyImage.Width = MyImage.Width */1.5
> MyImage.Height = MyImage.Height / 1.5
> End Sub
>
></script>
Yes, this would work ... once you've converted your autocad drawing or
postscript image to an enormous highly detailed GIF (postscript to GIF is
always a fun conversion) ... once you've ensured that all of your users are
running a current version of IE so that the VB script will work (too bad for
Netscape users) ... and once you've compelled your users to endure a very long
download to get the image onto their local system ... and once they've figured
out the click/double-click semantic ...
Of course you wouldn't have to worry about these issues with a PDF, but Mike's
right, you could do it with an HTML file and a GIF image.