One of the things that’s always been a little vague in the PDF Reference Manual is exactly what an application that reads PDF absolutely has to support in order to be labeled as “PDF compliant”. In the transition to an ISO standard (ISO 32000-1:2008) that didn’t change, but the importance of a formal definition of what a reader must do became more important in some markets.

I’m a member of the ad hoc task force that has been set up in ISO to look at all the statements about reader behavior in the draft of the next version of the PDF standard. The goal is to split them into a number of categories, along the lines of:

• All compliant PDF readers must do these things
• All compliant interactive PDF readers must do these things (but server based converters, RIPs etc don’t need to)
• If a PDF reader supports a section of the PDF standard then it must do this aspect of that section (this is sometimes re-stated as “if the application supports then it must support it properly!”)
• Choosing not to support these features will not make a PDF reader non-compliant.

All of this obviously interacts both with the subset standards such as PDF/A, PDF/E, PDF/X etc, and with a specific buyer’s requirements for the feature set that they need.

I’d be very interested to hear your views on what you think should be the baseline for what every PDF reader must do, and why … or even if you think such things should be left entirely to the market in selecting products that meet specific needs. I’ll use any feedback on this article to help shape my input to the task force.

Thanks

I keep hearing the excitement about getting rid of “Desktop” applications and moving them all into the “Cloud”, and there are many benefits to be sure. However being able to see the “Cloud” when you travel can be a patchy affair.

On the plane I can’t get any internet connection (I don’t fly business class). In airports I still feel nervous about connecting to unknown WiFi spots (and it often costs money). My company smart phone has expensive roaming charges for data and so I try not to use it. The signal strength and bandwidth is not always guaranteed. Even at home my company smart phone has a terrible time trying to get any signal strength.

I have a traditional operating system on my laptop installed with “Desktop” applications. The lack of “Cloud” coverage does not dictate when I do my work, which is a key consideration for me. Many business travellers have to “kill” time while they wait in airports, train stations and sitting on aeroplanes. They read the newspaper, read a book or watch a range of films (chosen by someone else). The aim is to make the time pass so that they can get to their destination. As my time has been squeezed between work and family I have started looking at removing the concept of “killing” time.

I have replaced it with the concept of “investing” time. I get some work out of the way, write visit reports, compose emails and read documents. The new travel focused devices like the iPad will make this easier. I have contemplated using software to read business documents to an MP3 or CD so that I can listen to them on my two hour round trip to work (might be a good feature for gDoc Fusion). After I get back from my trip I can cash back the time that I “invested” and spend it with my family (at least that’s the theory). The thought of being barred from accessing my tools and data and being forced to go back to killing time some other way is something I find unacceptable.

To me the “Cloud” against “Desktop” application debate is analogous to the arguments for public transport (Cloud) against the car (Desktop). I can see all of the benefits of public transport but the car gives me personal freedom to make choices about how, when and in what manner I travel. If public transport becomes as easy to access as a car it will succeed. However I can’t see it succeeding if users have to change their pattern of travel to fit in.

Until the access to “Cloud” based applications gives me the personal freedom about when and where I can invest my time I’ll be sticking with “Desktop” applications and locally stored data. I won’t be giving up my car any time soon either.

Do you remember the summer of ’93?

Jurassic Park was dominating the UK box office, Take That chalked up their first UK number one with ‘Pray’, and a newly-formed software house in California introduced to the world a brand new format that some 17 years later dominates as the most commonly used document format in the world: Adobe PDF.
There’s a general expectation these days that certain types of software should be free. But this wasn’t always the case back in the early 1990s when the web was newly born. In fact, it’s hard to believe that Adobe once charged for Acrobat Reader, which for a long time was the only software available that could read PDFs. However, it wasn’t long until Adobe switched to a new business model making Acrobat Reader a free download, so that anyone could view and print PDF files. A smart move which no doubt enabled PDF to become as popular as it is today.

A decade ago Global Graphics led the way with “clone” PDF creation with the JAWS PDF product line; today there is a plethora of PDF-producing applications available, as a cursory Google search reveals. PDF creation has become a commodity, a facility that’s built-in to favourite applications or available for free.
But is free always a good thing? What sacrifices do users make when choosing some of the free PDF creators that are available today?

Five reasons why free can be bad:

1. Badly formed embedded fonts
2. Text that can’t be copied and pasted
3. Wrong colours
4. Missing graphic objects
5. PDF that deviates from ISO 32000-1:2008

So choose your PDF clone wisely.

Fast-forward to 2010. Robbie Williams has re-joined Take that and the band, are more successful and more ubiquitous than they were back in 1993. With maturity and experience teaching them what works and what doesn’t, they’ve grown to understand the necessity of rewarding a loyal audience with a high quality product. Exactly the same should be said for PDF. When choosing the right PDF solution for your business, make sure you’re not sacrificing quality or ease-of-use simply because a product is free. There are excellent, free solutions available, including our own. Try gDoc and let us know what you think.