Stop
misusing PDF (please!)
By: Dominic Jones
Related:Best practices
for online speeches and presentations
BAD habits die hard. They're also contagious it seems
. Take the rampant use - or misuse - of Portable Document
Format (PDF) files on IR websites. What was once a minor
irritant now verges on a scourge.
As a nonstandard format
(albeit a ubiquitous one), PDF is not an acceptable
replacement for standard HTML text. PDF was never designed
for on-screen viewing of information on the Internet.
They
aren't meant to be read on the screen. Their
primary use is for printing to a laser printer. They
are also slower to download than standard HTML,
difficult to scroll through when they are
large documents, and usually contain many print-based
layout devices that don't work for on-screen reading,
including multi-column layouts and full-page photographs.
Despite their many drawbacks
for users, many IR websites are using PDFs as
the primary format for all types of information, from
bulky annual reports and regulatory filings to single-page
news releases. Still others are using the format incorrectly,
leading to extremely long download times, poor usability
and general user frustration.
Some of the main problems include:
More
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