Portable Document Format: Document You Can Carry Around
PDF or Portable Document Format is a file format that renders documents as images, making it possible for them to be viewed in any computer, printer, or application exactly as they are intended. Portable document format is independent of the original software it was created from, meaning that a portable document format file can be opened in Windows even though it was originally created in a Macintosh platform. The cross-platform capability makes the portable document format the universal file format used by almost anybody ? homeowners, businesses, or even government agencies. The portable document format is essentially comprised of three technologies: postscript, font-embedding, and storage systems. Postscript Postscript is the primary programming language used for generating graphics and texts. Though just a subset, the portable document format has many advantages over postscript. One interesting example is that by adapting the portable document format, multiple postscript files can be merged into a single file, thus solving a lot spacing issues. Font-embedding The font-embedding system gives the portable document format its mirroring capabilities. It allows fonts to travel with the document, thus making sure that portable document format files are opened and read even if the screen used does not have the ?proper? font installed. Storage system Perhaps the best feature of the portable document format is its structured storage system. Portable document format files are packed into a single file through compression. This makes the portable document format the ideal file format to use in the distribution and exchange of files over a local network or the Internet. Portable document format files can contain any combination of text, graphics, images, sound clips, video clips, and other multimedia elements. Portable document format files can be a simple single page document or extremely complex with a rich array of graphics, fonts, colors, images, and tags or links. The portable document format, for all its good qualities, has many disadvantages as well. One distinct downside to this format is that it is considered rigid compared to the more fluid HTML. Portable document format is only strictly concerned with describing a document by preserving its layout and typesetting while HTML is much more open to the artificial renderings of a browser. Yet, even so, the use of the portable document format, particularly in the electronic publishing areas, is widespread. The reason for this is that the portable document format is continuously evolving and will continue to do so. It is only true when people say that the portable document format has brought the dream of the paperless office much closer to reality. About the Author: Will Mathison is a freelance writer who writes articles for http://www.pdfconverter.com Source: www.isnare.com |