Documents Fly Through the Web With the Greatest of Ease
Written: Dec 03 '00 (Updated Dec 03 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Free Viewer Program for PDF Files
Cons: None
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| lap0530's Full Review: Adobe Acrobat Reader |
An Electronic Document Standard
To appreciate the need for Acrobat Reader, one first must understand the Portable Document File (PDF) technology of Adobe Systems. According to Adobe:
“Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF) is the open de facto standard for electronic document distribution worldwide. Adobe PDF is a universal file format that preserves all of the fonts, formatting, colors, and graphics of any source document, regardless of the application and platform used to create it...”
(Source: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/adobepdf.html)
While the claim that PDF is the de facto standard for electronic document distribution is perhaps slightly overstated, it is not too far off the mark. Only HTML is more pervasive. Using HTML to distribute content is not a safe proposition because different browsers and operating systems will display the documents differently depending on such factors as screen resolution, browser version, support for style sheets, and font installations. Similarly, while using a word processing or page layout program may solve the formatting problem, it begs the issue of system compatibility and software availability. Moreover, certain file formats are notorious for their bloat factor.
The PDF format solves many of the problems of electronic document creation, distribution, and printing. Everything from IRS tax forms to electronic books can be saved and distributed with precise formatting, colors, graphics, navigation links, and fonts. Files in the PDF format are typically quite compact, making them simpler and quicker to transmit, download, and upload than the originals from which they were produced.
By creating a standard for electronic document distribution, Adobe has also created a market for its free reader program. The huge size of that market is attested to by the fact that more than 110 million computers have Adobe Acrobat Reader either downloaded or preloaded on them.
PDF documents can be distributed in a variety of forms including e-mail attachments, download links on web pages, and files on CDs. In addition to their use as web documents, PDF files are the obvious choice because of their compact size for electronic manuals. My computer system came with the Acrobat 3.0 Reader installed and an owner’s manual in the PDF format.
Read and Print For Free
Adobe Acrobat is a full-featured program for creating, editing, and distributing PDF files. Acrobat Reader, on the other hand, is a freely available and distributable limited-use reader program. With Acrobat Reader, one can view and print PDF files. Acrobat Reader also allows users to fill in and submit PDF forms online. One can download encrypted content such as an electronic book and unlock it by using the Web Buy feature of Acrobat Reader.
Acrobat Reader 4.0 is a 5.5 MB download. New in version 4.0 are the following features:
• Improved browser integration
• Better printer support
• Increased support for long, complex documents
• Better color handling
• Support for all versions of PostScript
A Quick Tour
I downloaded and installed Acrobat Reader 4.05. The program presents an inviting user interface. The simple menu bar contains commands for File, Edit, Document, View, Window, and Help. An icon toolbar allows the user to navigate through the PDF file with a set of VCR-like buttons (forward, end, back, and home). These buttons are very convenient, much more so than the typical page navigation buttons in word-processing programs. The navigation buttons are duplicated in the lower left-hand corner of the Reader interface and there also show the current page and total number of pages.
The icon toolbar also contains links to the main Adobe Acrobat web site and the Create Adobe PDF Online web site described below. An optional navigation pane much like the Windows Explorer interface can be opened on the left-hand side of the Reader interface. A document thumbnail represents each page in the PDF file. A hand-shaped icon permits the user to “grab” the document at any point and move up or down in the display window. A magnifying-glass icon is used for quick zooming. Finally, a selector tool allows the user to highlight and copy selections of text or graphics. This tool actually provides a text highlighter as well as a graphics selector, which is only visible if one holds down the icon for the text selector and drags the mouse cursor to the right.
Documents can be viewed as continuous, separate, or facing pages and can be zoomed to magnification levels varying from 12.5% to 1600% of the actual size. Documents can also be rotated clockwise or counterclockwise in 90º increments.
While Acrobat Reader cannot be used directly to edit the content of PDF files, both text and images in PDF documents can be copied and inserted into other documents. Images are converted to the Windows Meta File (WMF) format, while text is kept in text form and can be inserted directly into a Word or Notepad document. Since the text is “live,” it can also be searched for any text string (though obviously replacements cannot be made).
Any feature saved in the original PDF file by its creator is available to the user, including working hyperlinks, embedded graphics, and other objects such as video or animations.
I Like Making Them
Adobe is obviously betting that many Acrobat Reader users will eventually upgrade to the production version of Acrobat. The $250 Acrobat 4.0 allows the creation of PDF files from a variety of sources. However, for those who would like to experiment with creating PDF files online, Adobe offers a web-based subscription service called Create Adobe PDF Online. The service is $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. Interested parties can test drive this service for free. After registering, users can convert up to three documents to the PDF format from their web browsers.
Overall Evaluation
Acrobat Reader 4.0 has very light system requirements. On a Windows 95/98/2000 machine, it requires only 8 MB of RAM and an i486 processor and about 10 MB of hard drive space.
Reviewers who have been overly critical of Acrobat Reader have in my opinion failed to understand both its purpose and its usefulness. In the estimation of this reviewer, Acrobat Reader is one free program that is obligatory for every computer.
Recommended:
Yes
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lap0530
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