January 1999

Bringing Docs to the Web With... PDF

Liz Levy

When you want to preserve the look and feel of an original document, the Portable Document Format is the best choice. But there's more to PDF than backfile conversion.

As organizations rush to get every ounce of information online, they should stop to think about what they are trying to accomplish by doing so. Jamming a Web site with documents upon documents can confuse rather than inform.

Deciding on what content to include in your site will take you through a number of decisions regarding the audience for the site and the kinds of activities that will take place. If you're like most organizations, you probably have legacy documents that you want to make available online. The trouble is, these documents are often difficult to access and organize. This is usually due to the mass volumes of documents and misplacement over the years. These files are also sometimes stored in older storage systems that are not easily accessible over current systems.

What makes Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) such a practical file format for publishing static legacy documents on the Web? Besides being a standard for document output, PDF has many advantages. Almost any kind of legacy data can be converted to PDF with minimal work to preserve existing page layouts.

Adobe Systems (San Jose, CA 408-536-6000 www.adobe.com) developed its Adobe Acrobat software for creating PDF in 1993. It provides a tool to view and store electronic documents in a way that is independent of the application that created them. The format maintains the exact look and layout of any document, including columns, pictures, logos, etc. PDF files also can be viewed from any platform by way of a free viewer, making it a cost-effective way to distribute documents.

Among the other advantages of PDF are its ease of use and versatility in publishing to print or to the Web. PDF files can be distributed as a non-revisable format. This can be an advantage or disadvantage, depending on your needs, but is definitely viable for static legacy data that is distributed for viewing purposes only.

PDF is not just for legacy files. Because PDF is page independent and viewable across multiple media and platforms, it lends itself to ýrepurposingý content -- that is, delivering the same document in print, on CD-ROM or through a Web browser. Each PDF file is like an object database that contains the content of the file as well as the fonts, images or annotations. A PDF file can also contain links to other information, such as variable data tables.

It is important to note that PDF is no longer a single-vendor solution. Adobe has opened the format for industry development. This is somewhat of a sore point for Adobe but will increase support for the format overall. Users can select from a wide range of venders offering PDF conversion tools, viewers and plug-ins.

Diamond Technology Partners (Chicago, IL 312-255-5000 www.diamtech.com), a consulting firm specializing in creating technology strategies for industries such as banking, finance and insurance, has implemented a PDF policy-document-delivery system for Interstate Insurance Group. The Chicago-based commercial property, casualty and special lines carrier was looking for a better way to distribute insurance policy documents and the corresponding underwriting documents across their enterprise and out to their clients.

Documents are converted to PDF upon creation by importing MS Word files. Paper documents are scanned to TIFF and converted to PDF.

ýPDF was found to be the most practical and effective solution, hands down,ý says Andrew Dye, principle with Diamond and program manager for the installation.

ýThe Acrobat Reader is a simple installation that plugs right into the Web browser and is available as shareware,ý Dye says. ýNo other format offered the same easy and immediate access to documents at such a low cost. PDF had all the capabilities to meet our objectives.ý

Dye describes PDF as ýubiquitous,ý giving many people the ability to view the same document at once.

PDF is also important to Ikon Office Solutions (Walnut Creek, CA 925-930-7700 www.ikon.com). ýPDF technology is an important document conversion tool for the 21st century,ý says Randy Burns, director of marketing at Ikon ýBeyond preserving the original ýlook and feel' of a document, PDF files are searchable and easily accessible via the Web, Internet, intranet, email, CD-ROM or any enterprise-wide system.ý

Ikon's recent purchase of service bureau Emerge (Madison, WI 608-829-3454) is proof of the company's faith in PDF. Emerge was one of the first service organizations to provide a solution based on the PDF format starting about five years ago. The company offers expertise in PDF document management/ publishing, and they handle projects for output to corporate intranets as well as to traditional document management systems, print and CD-ROM.

Burns says Ikon and Emerge will also harness XML, which is another portable technology (See Bringing Docs to the Web with XML, page 41). They see PDF and XML as complimentary rather than competing technologies.

ýOnce XML has more support, users will have the ability to look at the structure of a document and search content at a more granular level,ý says Burns.

This complimentary vision of PDF and XML is shared by Adobe itself, which has added support for XML in the new version of FrameMaker 5.5.6 and FrameMaker +SGML. Adobe FrameMaker is a document-authoring-and-publishing solution that combines word processing, page layout, graphics, color features and online distribution capabilities in a single package. Users can automatically create PDF files without having to first print to Adobe PostScript.

FrameMaker+SGML 5.5 lets users create SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) structured content in a WYSIWYG environment without having to be experts in coding this language. SGML is the international standard for defining descriptions of the structure and content of different types of electronic documents.

With the ability to export documents to XML (Extensible Markup Language), users can use FrameMaker to create searchable content that can be published on the Web. It is ideal for handling complex documents that are hundreds or even thousands of pages long.

For example, content can be exported from FrameMaker 5.5.6 to create electronic product manuals that could be searched or sorted by product feature or part number. Because XML is designed to make electronic content easier to search, reuse and exchange with other applications, it gives FrameMaker customers a more effective way to publish critical information within large documents.

Adobe FrameMaker is geared for reuse of content with the ability to import Microsoft Word '97 documents and place Adobe PDF files as graphic elements of a FrameMaker document. Importantly, FrameMaker and FrameMaker +SGML also support the ODMA (Open Document Management API) standard for plug-in support with document management systems. This opens up FrameMaker 5.5.6 to Web users for check-in, check-out and sophisticated search capabilities.

FrameMaker 5.5.6 is available for $895 for the Macintosh and Windows platforms, $1,495 for the personal Unix edition, and $2595 for the shared Unix edition.

How PDF and XML will eventually work together may depend upon what media is being served. Some organizations are now publishing in PDF for downloading and print and then converting to HTML for viewing on the Web. This is done mostly to decrease download times and save bandwidth. They may also be influenced by user reluctance to download the Adobe Acrobat plug-in for security reasons.

Outputting documents to the Web in XML is an option that can give users added flexibility. But with no RIP (Raster Image Processor) for XML as yet, users still benefit in storing files in the PDF format for print output. A RIP is used to automate the process of making documents printer ready.

Where the documents originate from may also determine how documents will be stored and delivered. Talk to graphic designers who work in programs like Quark, PhotoShop, Illustrator or FrameMaker and who understand PostScript and they will most likely feel more comfortable storing files in PDF.

Talk to information authors who work on Windows using MS Word or Excel and who understand HTML, and they will probably be more inclined to use XML (particularly when Microsoft Office 2000 and popular browsers offer full native support for XML).

Talk to document managers, imaging managers and records managers who will oversee vast stores of documents, and you will likely see them pick the format that suits their application. Document management, capture, COLD/Enterprise Report Mangement and other solutions will increasingly offer both flavors.

What's next for PDF and the Web? Adobe has submitted a proposal to the W3C called PGML (Precision Graphics Markeup Language), an XML-based language for bringing high quality 2D vector graphics to the Web. It's compatible with PostScript and PDF. Look for more on PGML in coming months.