Why
We Use PDF Files
The
PDF file format
PDF (portable document
format) is a file type developed by Adobe
Systems, Inc. that delivers electronic documents
over the Internet with composition and format
intact. As you've probably already seen, many
Internet-based documents, such as emails and even
some Web pages, are pretty dull. The most frequent
complaint from users is that type styles, or fonts,
are difficult to read. Accurate page layout also is
lacking on many sites.
PDF solves these problems, and
others, because it allows the author to specify
fonts and styles, and to accurately position page
elements, so the document has the same rich format
no matter where it is opened. You see the document
(or image) as the author intended it to look.
Millions of documents currently are available as PDF
files on the web. The US government distributes most
of its electronic documents as PDF files (for
example, check out the IRS site at www.irs.gov). If
you spend much time on the Web it is worthwhile
learning to use Acrobat Reader! PDF also
makes document printing much easier.
PDF has two additional
important features (1) the ability to
password-protect images inside pdf files so that
they cannot be easily extracted and (2) the ability
to enlarge images using the zoom function built into
the Acrobat Reader program.
