Book idiosyncracies? No thanks, scrolling vertically is easier.
PDF is as good as anything for what it was created for: documents.
The last time i checked documents were flipped through page by page ,as virtual documents PDF’s should implement this.And in my opinion scrolling vertically through a PDF is disorienting.
The trouble with PDF is that companies are demanding it. Especially those who are converting old paper documentation, statements and bills to the web.
Instead of putting forth the cash to convert paper documentation and statements to HTML, they convert it to PDF. PDF “is” the paper document. It contains all of the print messages, images, and logos. It looks and feels exactly the same. Large print shops and document authoring tools generate PDF just as they generate the files they send to the large batch printing machines. Those large Xerox and AFP files can be converted into PDF with a little work and the right toolset.
If an end user wants to save their paper documents today they simply take the document and stick it in a filing cabinet. What if you decide to turn off paper and go all electronic? How do I save my document? The company doesn’t want to front the coin to store years of documents. Do I click for a printable version and save the HTML on my disk? No. It’s not a good solution. Do I click on a PDF and say save? Yes. It is the same document as the one I received in the mail (without the watermark on the print stock). It’s also much simpler, a single file, as opposed to an HTML document with a folder containing copies of a bunch of images. It’s probably also easier for the customer support people to handle viewing a PDF rather than navigating them through a web page I’ve saved.
Long and short of it, there are reasons why when I go to Fidelity.com, I can view my statement online in HTML, but when I go to print the doucment, I get a PDF that looks the same as the one I got in the mail. There are reasons why my Columbia Gas bill is presented in PDF instead of HTML. And they are generally usability, legal and project funding reasons.
I just noticed: no ad at the end of this post?
Packaging? You can save a web page as an .mht file in Internet Exploder if you like. There, it’s packaged. You can then put this on your website and link to it.
PDF files? my, looks inside a lot like an old postscript file [but compressed], which was desgined for sending output to printers.
And I really loved the “benefit” of not being able to easily copy text from a PDF file.
We need them PDF’s to download eBooks from eMule and restrict them to 1 file, so we don’t have to deal with archives.
You guys are such n00bs 
I think that PDF and HTML cover two different domains. One is for print, the other is for the web. HTML just doesn’t print nicely and with a PDF I can embed fonts to make it look exactly the way I want it to.
It’s incredible how many are missing the point. Maybe it would be good to remind that PDF derives from PostScript, which is a language for printer rendering – that’s also why the quick and dirty way to make a PDF file out of any other format is to have a virtual printer (e. g., Primo PDF).
If you want to distribute a document as if you were sending it by snail mail, and if it is crucial to keep the page layout, PDF is perfect (as the above example of the student sending an essay to his teacher). However, if that document is going to be reformatted (as when a writer sends a manuscript to a publisher for DTP composing), PDF just doesn’t work (unless it is some kind of vanity publishing, but I digress…)
(More or less) the same idea should be applied for the web: if you want to distribute a finished paper, where layout is crucial, PDF is OK (not perfect, but OK). If you want to have some form of interaction (even if it is just clicking), a light footprint on resources, and content over presentation (while maintaining the branding of a website and the flow of navigation), PDF is a stupid idea.
Jeff is right to the point. Please don’t think of screen media and interactive media as an extension of written media.
(OH, and by the way: of course the Kindle should have PDF support; although electronic, it is mainly a BOOK reader)
The annoying thing with PDF’s is that you can’t just “copy/paste” text as you would from a MS Word document. They insert a new row character at the end of every line instead of simply wrapping the damn line.
The large amount of clueless comments on this post is telling about what the problem with PDF’s is: People have no clue what it’s for.
Here is it in big bold letters: PRINTING.
A PDF is guaranteed to print the same no matter where it’s printed. In fact, it’s the JAVA of printing: Write once, Print Everywhere!
relying on PDF was more defensible in 2001, when browser
printing support was notoriously poor
Browser printing support is still pretty poor in Firefox. My standard workflow for printing web pages is to try and print them in Firefox (my default browser). If that fails (which happens quite a bit), I switch to MSIE, which has a much higher hit rate. If that also fails, I use MSIE to print to PDF Writer and then print the PDF, which almost always works.
So there’s an argument in favour of PDFs: It’s what you use to bypass broken browser printing.
What is often forgot, visually challenged people have problems with PDF files, while in browsers they can use their preferred font and size.
That’s one of the basic ideas of HTML, let the user select his preferences, not force your preferences on him.
Links to PDF files assume the user has a PDF viewer installed.
Even worst, the sites that want to make sure you know what you are doing and are checking for the existence of Adobe Reader, completely ignoring the existence of alternate products.
The better of the worst at least just let you continue and open the doc in the default program, others force you download the file.
Ditto Bill - no BOOKMARK feature!? Just a single, solitary “I’m up to here” button would have been welcome, but noooo…
“The last time i checked documents were flipped through page by page ,as virtual documents PDF’s should implement this.”
I’m using Adobe Reader and I can “flip” through pages just fine.
Just change the “View-Page Display” option to “Single Page”, or use the Page Up/Down buttons on your keyboard, or switch to Full Screen view.
“Packaging? You can save a web page as an .mht file in Internet Exploder if you like.”
Yup, and that will only work for ONE page and the result will only be usable in Internet Explorer.
What if you want to package up multiple pages (e.g. a manual) and make them available to everyone that visits your site?
I must say Jeff, usually I’m in complete agreeance with you, but I think there’s a place for PDF’s, and that should be when a document needs to be printed or protected (as others have already stated).
You are completely correct with the document included… That’s not for print, it reads like a webpage anyway. Out with the PDF!
I agree with the essential point of this blog that we should try to stick with one standard. I would like to point out two very good uses of PDF’s on the web. I used to work for a company that dealt with content management, in this arena a read-only PDF is the perfect way to deliver a consistent read-only format in both the web and desktop environments. The second is for forms that cannot be submitted electronically. For instance there are still some companies that require you to fill out a form and sign it and either mail or fax it in to get what they are offering. From a user perspective it’s a lot easier to click on a link to a PDF in that case.
Hey Now Jeff,
I really like your statment ‘it (HTML)would certainly generate greater advertising revenue through the existing web ad ecosystem’. I also wonder your thoughts on Adobe vs. Foxit, which is a better reader? Maybe you could post ‘The PDF reader Showdown’ similar to Browser showdown ( http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/001023.html ).
Coding Horror Fan,
Catto
PDFs are ok for things like Mathematics, or for longer items like books that you want to view offline.
Also, for some items, it makes previously published material available without the burden of reformatting, like catalogs and datasheets for electronics parts.
For “normal” web pages, I have to agree it’s a mistake, and the people who do it seem like control freaks to some degree.
My OS of choice http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/ has a PDF viewer but no web browser.
Stick that up your chops 
I’m not sure what you’re getting at. Adobe’s Windows
PDF reader also has “full text search etc etc”.
Try using PDFs on a Mac to see what the OP meant. Under OS X, PDFs are a first-class citizen. Under Windows they’re a crudely bolted-on afterthought. (Just for the record, I’m a Windows user, but I have to say that OS X really has PDF support sorted out).