PDF and Usability

PDF and Usability

In a response to Jakob Nielsen's piece on how PDF sucks online and how it is suited for print Planet PDf carried this piece Excerpt from the piece: "Most of the alleged weaknesses cited in the column actually have more to do with user error -- poor authoring techniques and lack of understanding of PDF -- than with problems inherent in the format." "PDF has its weaknesses, for sure -- as does HTML -- and as do Web browsers. And usability gurus, too, as Nielsen aptly demonstrates." My Take:

• There is no such thing as user error. If users make mistakes it means the product in question suffers from poor usability
• Comparing HTML and PDF is silly. Leave everything else; I need only notepad to author HTML pages. I am not going into how hypertext is NOT linear and PDF IS
• Also, PDF files - they come in bulky sizes mind you - do not ask the user if the user wants to save the document or open it. IE opens PDF and normally in my 56k speed, it takes long enough to piss me off. I don't like when some software is trying to control the way I browse the net. Please note there is a way to tell IE to ask if you want to save. You have to do it on the Acrobat Reader settings (I hope Adobe has enough sense to keep the page in archives. If you don't find the page search on the site people). Read my earlier post on the same topic.
• Robert Mcdaniels of Adobe systems too responded by way of an open letter on Planetpdf to nielsen Read it here. It is again, about comparing HTML and PDF. It is like comparing Flash and HTML. It makes little sense. These guys argue about how PDF can offer all the features that a hypertext system can offer like navigation, linking... Now, why would you want to create a proprietary software to do what HTML does? What I'd like to see is: 'How is PDF ALSO an effective online documentation tool? Why should someone consider it over HTML?
• If PDF does all that HTML does fine, great work pal, but why should I choose it to do online documentation? I can't create PDF using Notepad (that's what a PDF-blind person would ask you). And hey Acrobat Distiller prints. The word 'Print' is written all over PDF.

I conclude that PDF is not an effective online documentation tool: 1) Authoring PDF is tougher than authoring HTML 2) PDF eats bandwidth 3)It is not as accessible as I want it to be. Read a nice piece on the subject here 4)Zeldman says: "For those of us confused by the maddeningly vague, numbingly�–written WAI Web Accessibility documents, the State of Illinois has prepared a nicely condensed, easy�–to�–understand tutorial on the subject. Unfortunately, the tutorial is in PDF format, making it inaccessible. (Hat tip: Anonymous Donor A.)" Amen!

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