The skinny on PDF docs...
1 - PDF documents are just as easy to steal as image files (jpg, gif,
etc.) or data files (html, rft, etc.). Actually, in some cases they
are easier to steal.
2 - Even PDF documents one would consider "small enough" not to lock
up a computer can and do lock up computers. A PDF as small as 25k
can lock up a computer, for it's not the size that does the evil
deed. PDF document language is prone to errors and it is those
errors that lock up computers. If I create a PDF document on my
creator version X.01.521 (there is never just a reader/creator
version 7.0 - there are always corrections and updates), anyone using
reader version X.01.521 will have no problems. Anyone not using that
version - say they're using version X.01.527 - may have problems. So
the only way to avoid the lock up issue is to recreate the PDF
document every time there is an update (egad!) and make sure everyone
on the internet has the latest version. Of course, if someone uses a
different viewer version or creator, there will always be lock-up
issues. And not just for dial-up, either. I've seen broadband, DSL
and cable connections booger up a computer during PDF downloading.
3 - PDF documents were created way back when the world was a mixed
back of operating systems, web language and viewers. Not everyone
had the same viewing capabilities as most do today so PDF was created
so someone using an American-based (IBM or Apple based) system could
trade written information with someone who was not. Soon, PDFs
became the "lazy-man's solution" to having to type all that
information in. This was prior to html creating or writing
programs. Everything had to be typed in. Sure, JPG and GIF were
options, but most people were incapable of creating them (due to lack
of resources or knowledge) and those that were often scanned things
in at 200+ dpi which created really huge files that no one wanted to
play with. So just scan the document in, have Adobe play with it
(reducing the dpi to a viewable size and such on it's own whim) and
voila, look at all the time saved not typing all that in!! Now, most
techies and hackers sneer at PDF as "old-school." Sure, old-school
is not always a bad thing. Great-grandma's recipe for cornbread is
good old-school. Leeches to cure one of the evil demons causing
pneumonia is bad old-school.
4 - PDF documents are, in general, not searchable. So for someone on
a slow or iffy connection (most people who don't live in cities are
either dial-up or have satellite that often grinds to a because a
gnat flew past the dish), they have to first, get the current version
of a PDF viewer (one to two hour download) and dowload the PDF file
(even small ones take twenty minutes) and then they discover the PDF
didn't contain the information they hoped it would and it was all a
waste of time. Most times, these people are not die-hard "I will
find the info I need!" people. They leave your website, blaming you
for your ineptitude (usually undeserved) and never return.
Please, folks, avoid PDFs.
Lori in Rock