I completely see the value of using PDFs for things that should be printed - like forms that you're going to print out and take to an office. But I don't use PDFs on most of my Web pages because I'd rather they be plain HTML. Do you use PDFs for documents on Web pages? Why or why not?
I use PDF only for download but never on my web design projects.
June 4, 2009 at 6:56 pm
(2) TBRSC says:
printable schedules and forms for sure.
interactive application forms- a nice way of collecting data from users.
also for bringing data together from multiple sources.word docs & spread sheets are easily combined to one page.
June 4, 2009 at 7:25 pm
(3) Web Designer London says:
Sometimes when I am reading an interesting Blog post or article which I want to refer to at a later stage, I find it useful to save a PDf version on my desktop. A lot of sites offer a ‘Create pdf’ option on web pages. The actual content as such is in html however the pdf is created on the fly based on user request. This is particularly useful for pillar or how to articles that one needs to refer back to. I have found it useful to include this feature on my articles or posts. However is available as a built in feature in the CMS that I use rather than me having to provide the page in PDf.
June 4, 2009 at 9:32 pm
(4) Holistic Web Design says:
I only use them for information that needs to be printed out..because I myself find them annoying.
June 8, 2009 at 4:29 pm
(5) SANNET says:
The PDF format is indeed very useful for printing, or for saving informations that you wouldn’t want it to be modified by visitors.
I use it when one of these two cases show up.
June 9, 2009 at 8:11 am
(6) Irene says:
I use it for forms, but also lately for vintage newspaper clippings for our site. I scan them as an image and after photo editing save them in PDF format.
As to saving stuff to the desktop, I agree with the earlier poster, it’s an nice way of doing so.
I have created a recipe folder for myself, and I “print” all recipes I like online as PDF files to that folder.
June 9, 2009 at 10:19 am
(7) scott Adie says:
Yes I use PDF’s on our web site. There are two reasons. First of all our downloads are PDF files which is typical. Our site, http://www.standoffsystems.com, went online March 9th. We manufacture machined aircraft-grade aluminum hardware that you can build anything you can think of with. We needed our site information to be available to everyone in a way that would be easy to use. We have an online catalog in HTML but also have that same catalog in an online PDF format for a very specific reason. I made our product line catalogs so that you can get from any page in the catalog to any other page in it with One Click. The exception to that is when changing from one product line to another as they are different catalogs to keep them smaller. According to our analytics, this was a great choice. The catalogs are all being used extensively in their various formats.
June 9, 2009 at 2:29 pm
(8) desta elliott says:
PDF files can now be filled in online (no need to print and fill out.) Adobe Professional (9 for sure) can enable “typewritter” on a PDF file and that file can be filled in dynamically using the typewriter feature–which is supported by Acrobat Reader (6 or later). Older PDF files can be massaged thru Adobe Pro to have the typewriter feature. It is great!
June 9, 2009 at 4:03 pm
(9) S Albers says:
Our church website has weekly and monthly updates which contain multiple formatting including pictures, text, special characters, etc. I do not have the time to set these updates up in HTML and keep the formatting as it is. Even though using PDF’s is not the best way to solve the problem, it is the most expedient. If I find a better way, I will use that instead, but in the meantime, I use PDF’s.
June 16, 2009 at 7:32 am
(10) Andrew Pearson says:
We encourage all our editors to include “pdf” and the filesize inside the link text to warn anyone who may be using text reading software what they are about to link to.
February 5, 2010 at 11:50 am
(11) Jon Stringer says:
Hey long time no comment lol.
I tend to use them for free reports white papers etc.. They are handy for people to download and keep and sure great for printing.
I use PDF only for download but never on my web design projects.
printable schedules and forms for sure.
interactive application forms- a nice way of collecting data from users.
also for bringing data together from multiple sources.word docs & spread sheets are easily combined to one page.
Sometimes when I am reading an interesting Blog post or article which I want to refer to at a later stage, I find it useful to save a PDf version on my desktop. A lot of sites offer a ‘Create pdf’ option on web pages. The actual content as such is in html however the pdf is created on the fly based on user request. This is particularly useful for pillar or how to articles that one needs to refer back to. I have found it useful to include this feature on my articles or posts. However is available as a built in feature in the CMS that I use rather than me having to provide the page in PDf.
I only use them for information that needs to be printed out..because I myself find them annoying.
The PDF format is indeed very useful for printing, or for saving informations that you wouldn’t want it to be modified by visitors.
I use it when one of these two cases show up.
I use it for forms, but also lately for vintage newspaper clippings for our site. I scan them as an image and after photo editing save them in PDF format.
As to saving stuff to the desktop, I agree with the earlier poster, it’s an nice way of doing so.
I have created a recipe folder for myself, and I “print” all recipes I like online as PDF files to that folder.
Yes I use PDF’s on our web site. There are two reasons. First of all our downloads are PDF files which is typical. Our site, http://www.standoffsystems.com, went online March 9th. We manufacture machined aircraft-grade aluminum hardware that you can build anything you can think of with. We needed our site information to be available to everyone in a way that would be easy to use. We have an online catalog in HTML but also have that same catalog in an online PDF format for a very specific reason. I made our product line catalogs so that you can get from any page in the catalog to any other page in it with One Click. The exception to that is when changing from one product line to another as they are different catalogs to keep them smaller. According to our analytics, this was a great choice. The catalogs are all being used extensively in their various formats.
PDF files can now be filled in online (no need to print and fill out.) Adobe Professional (9 for sure) can enable “typewritter” on a PDF file and that file can be filled in dynamically using the typewriter feature–which is supported by Acrobat Reader (6 or later). Older PDF files can be massaged thru Adobe Pro to have the typewriter feature. It is great!
Our church website has weekly and monthly updates which contain multiple formatting including pictures, text, special characters, etc. I do not have the time to set these updates up in HTML and keep the formatting as it is. Even though using PDF’s is not the best way to solve the problem, it is the most expedient. If I find a better way, I will use that instead, but in the meantime, I use PDF’s.
We encourage all our editors to include “pdf” and the filesize inside the link text to warn anyone who may be using text reading software what they are about to link to.
Hey long time no comment lol.
I tend to use them for free reports white papers etc.. They are handy for people to download and keep and sure great for printing.
Keep up the good work Jennifer
JP