PDFs on the web... "evil, lazy, slothful, and sinful"
When you work constantly for less reliance on PDFs on the web, having an ally is a good thing indeed. That's why a recent headline on a New Thinking column by Gerry McGovern caught my immediate attention... "PDFs are evil, lazy, slothful, and sinful."
Read what Gerry really thinks at http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/2007/nt-2007-02-05-pdf.htm
Now, don't get me wrong. There is a place on a website for PDFs. I find they work well, for instance, at the Pew Internet website to present research results. The text is clear against a white background, there aren't any pictures, and I can scroll through at my leisure to read a report without having to change the magnification on the page back and forth.
My major problem is with annual reports, alumni magazines and (less often used) recruitment viewbooks that are designed as print publications and then put up on websites. Most often this happens because its an easy thing to do and keeps somebody, someplace in the institution happy.
Don't fool yourself that very many normal human beings who come to your website are actually reading these things. To see a whole page (and the pictures on them) you have to shrink the page so small that you can't possibly read the text. To read the text, you have to enlarge the page so that only a small part of it is visible at any one time and thus you lose the design impact that someone spent a great deal of time developing. Not to mention the impact of the (should be) outstanding photos included in the print piece.
Carleton University, my long running favorite example in web writing presentations, knows how to do it right. Check the Winter 2007 alumni magazine at http://magazine.carleton.ca/
And check these examples as well:
- Indiana University at http://alumni.indiana.edu/magazine/index.shtml
- Ohio University at http://www.ohio.edu/ohiotoday/
- University of Massachusetts Amherst http://umassmag.com/
Help make the web world a better place. Plan to convert your alumni magazines and annual reports to formats like these that people who are interested can more easily read.
Do you have a great example of an online publication like these? Send me the link at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com