| Adobe invented a way to write once and publish anywhere called the Portable Document Format or PDF. PDF originally was meant to be used to share documents in workgroups, because once you create the PDF file your co-workers do not have to own the original software in order to read the file in all its formatting glory. All they need is a reader called the Acrobat Reader.
You see PDFs all over the Web these days, used for everything from documentation to white papers to product specification sheets. If you have highly formatted documents created with a page layout software or even Microsoft Word, or if you have a large collection of documents you need to make available on the Web quickly, PDF is a good candidate for the job. You can often create a PDF of a document much faster than you can an HTML version, and the PDF retains all of your formatting to boot.
In addition, Acrobat is becoming the format of choice for professional print shops and service bureaus. Instead of delivering page layout files and a collection of images and fonts to a printer, you simply send a PDF file, which combines all of the document's pieces and parts into one complete package.
What you need to create a PDF
Although the Adobe Acrobat Reader is free to anyone who wants to view PDFs, you'll need to purchase the Adobe Acrobat software, a $503 program consisting of various modules, to actually create PDFs.
Warning:
Many other programs are available that convert DTP and word processing output to PDF files, but none of them can create the high-quality PDFs that Adobe Acrobat generates.
You'll also need a PostScript printer driver, which is simply a printer driver that can print from your page layout or word processing application of choice to a PostScript file on your local hard disk. One of the modules in Adobe Acrobat, Distiller, uses PostScript files to create PDFs. If you don't already have a PostScript printer driver installed on your computer -- check your Printers listing to find out as one may have come with an inkjet or laser printer you already have installed -- you can download one free from Adobe.
Creating a PDF
Once you have the Adobe Acrobat software and the proper printer driver installed, creating a PDF is a simple process:
- Print your publication as a PostScript file from your word processing or page layout software.
- Open the Distiller utility that comes with the Adobe Acrobat software.
- Drop the PostScript file into Distiller and let it run. The result is a PDF file.
After you install the Acrobat software (not just the reader) Microsoft Word and other applications like PageMaker and FrameMaker will support printing directly to PDF from within the application. To print to PDF from Microsoft Word:
- Choose File > Create Adobe PDF.
- Click Create.
It's that simple. When you use Distiller to create your PDF files (as opposed to creating them directly from an application like Microsoft Word) you have more control over the final PDF. You can optimize the PDF for delivery over the Web, which results in a smaller file size and a slightly reduced quality (which no one will really noticed). You can also optimize the PDF for printing, which creates a large file but includes all of the information a print shop or service bureau needs to create a professional-grade publication.
Just the tip of the iceberg
Creating portable, sharable documents that retain their formatting is really just the beginning. Organizations and entire industries are using PDFs for everything from creating secure forms for loan fulfillment to dynamically generating PDFs to drive print publications like magazines and even books. Third-party vendors have created a host of plug-ins for PDFs that allow you to add watermarks, manage large libraries of PDFs, convert PDF to HTML, and more. Next to HTML, PDFs are the most popular format for delivering content via the Web, and look to stay that way for quite some time.
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