PDF How to Transform the World of Documents

PDF is a rising star in the information environment in recent years. The author has elaborated on its role and attractive charisma in different publications. This article further discusses its use from different perspectives.
Nowadays, the effective means of sharing information via the Internet is PDF, and the use of PDF to disclose information on the Internet will increase in frequency.

PDF plays a role in matters related to affairs such as intelligence dispatch

The most important feature of PDF (Portable Document Format) is that it is possible to share the same file in plural work terminals. Moreover, for documents compiled in the office or documents for commercial printing, it is possible to ignore its quality and how to deal with it. In this way, it can be expected to play its due role in various fields.

Since the sale of Acrobat 3.0 in June 1997, two years have passed. Acrobat 4.0, which greatly expanded its capabilities, was born. It was hoped that PDF would be fully utilized in the prepress engineering field, but in reality, In the area of ​​prepress engineering, it has not been well utilized. On the contrary, it has played a major role in matters related to affairs such as the dispatch of intelligence. Let's take a look at how PDF is used, and where it will expand in the future.

Standardization of information transmission processing methods

With the enrichment of the network environment represented by the Internet and intranets, there are many instances of sharing document data in companies through the Internet. PDF can not only pack the original document file format, but also compress the original document to the original 1/10 to the maximum 1/40, which is equivalent to reducing the file size. In addition, sharing files on the Windows environment or the Macintosh environment is the best way to share information through the Internet.

When sending files via the Internet, there are methods for viewing HTML-formatted files via the Web browser. However, using this method, it is necessary to make paper documents first, and then to create Web documents in other projects, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

With PDF, documents made from paper can be easily converted to PDF with Acrobat Distiller.

Overseas, there are many companies that have documented documents, online manuals, product catalogs, etc., in conjunction with PDF. The use of PDF to send information through the network and working procedures, can be said to have become very common.

Anything that doesn't depend on the user's environment is suitable

For the media used for public information, in addition to paper media, the Internet and others are more powerful means. Some government agencies have used web pages and some have begun to disclose information. Local groups have also set up web pages and intend to disclose their own meeting records.
From the above description, it is equally important that the documents of public organizations are sent via the Internet in addition to printing on paper. And because it comes from a user-dependent environment, it can be expected that the need to use PDF to create documents will greatly increase.

Constructing a Document Management System with PDF

In the past, scanners were always used to read document data on paper, and they were converted directly to PDF, which could also be applied to document management. The application method of "electronic document layout" has long been heard, and several software products have already been commercialized. In particular, Acrobat 4.0 can directly convert scanned data to PDF by encountering a scanner corresponding to TWAIN (Technology Without Any Interested Name). As a result, the use of PDFs to share and manage document data in companies has increased since then.

Using Acrobat 4.0's New Features to Expand Communication Tools

The past PDFs were mainly on computers, but they were used for the purpose of browsing data in the same genre as paper documents. In Acrobat 4.0, an annotation method and an electronic signature function are loaded, and similarly written comments or application forms can be produced by PDF. The format function (this function has been loaded with a small modification) or the PDF file constructed using the newly-installed annotation method and electronic signature function can be used as a file to achieve the application of a group wear system. . Further with the authentication system and other combinations, it can be based on different users to add reference limits.

The future PDF can be applied to various document data made of paper media, and it can be expected to be applied as a communication means based on loading various additional functions.

Filling the font becomes possible to achieve online proofing

Take the previous version of the original PDF, it has used online proofing. However, although it is online proofing, it can only be considered as a simple item that uses Acrobat's "note function." In addition, another example is the method of attaching a PDF file to an e-mail and sending the proof content back via e-mail. In short, due to the problems of substitution and color substitution, it cannot be applied to high-precision proofing operations.

The types of annotation processing tools for Acrobat 4.0 have increased, and the ICC profile has been supported. However, the reason why the font is filled is that only the CID-type PS font and the Truetype font are used, and there is no significant benefit from the font-filling function for the commercial printing field that uses the OCF-type PS font. . Therefore, in the future, it will be possible to popularize the online proofing using PDF by centering on the Windows DTP that uses more TrueType words.

Windows DTP data will be welcomed if published in PDF format

For Acrobat 4.0 to seek cooperation with Microsoft Office products, it is finally easy to make PDFs based on Word or Excel. Based on this situation, you can expect more opportunities for Windows DTP data to be received in PDF form. This is gratifying for printing companies and export centers.

In the past, there were various problems in outputting data compiled with Office products. In order to complete the output, complicated processing was required. The typical problems are chaotic layout design, sometimes inappropriate fonts.

The reason for the chaotic layout design is that there is inconsistency between the layout information of the production end and the layout design information of the output terminal based on the image integration machine, which can be converted into a workflow sent to the output end by making the end line into PDF. Can solve the chaotic layout design. The so-called font is not suitable because the fonts used for data compilation are not loaded on the output side. Simply adding the TrueType to the PDF data on the production side will solve the problem.

Electronic publishing obtained from PDF database looks forward to a two-tier structure database

There are several examples of how PDF is used to implement web publishing. The specific application is that users can purchase certain pages specified in maps, information magazines, academic books, etc. as needed. This application method is to provide the entire page data that has been created, so it is equal to any user can provide the same content information.

In recent years, companies are focusing on One to one marketing. This year will surely make use of PDF to provide information needed by individuals. For this reason, it is not the case that the document data or the book as a whole is converted into a PDF, but the content part (notes, figures, and the like) of the composition is made into a PDF by unit, so it is necessary to manage it using a database.

The PDF of these content units is adapted to the consumer's preferences and grouped into a PDF file (this is equivalent to putting fragmented PDF groups into the basic PDF) and can be compiled into a personal-oriented catalog. This kind of generalization work can also be considered in the provision of intelligence, but as a plug-in for PDF, it will be implemented in the Acrobat Reader for each consumer, and the scope of application will be broader.

Since the PDF itself does not have a means for managing personal information and content, it is necessary to use a database as a management content unit in order to obtain sufficient use. Considering the interoperability with the Internet and Intranet and the future expansion, it is most likely that an XML-based database is most appropriate.

At present, it is hoped that the two-tier structure type database in which a database that can manage the content unit's intelligence and a database that manages the PDF that is processed for transmission will appear soon.

PDF-based prepress project,
Direction for Postscript Extreme

According to the listing of Acrobat 4.0, the chance of publishing to the printing company in PDF will increase. At present, most output centers or printing companies are driving PostscriptLevel2 RIP. When using this system to process PDF data, several types of plug-ins must be used for page numbering software and versioning software. Recently, the output of the major manufacturers gradually began to load RIP corresponding to Postscript. Even if there is no such software as CrackerJack, the output can still be output. The page numbering project remains unchanged.

If you introduce discrete software discretely, there will be no uniform workflow. As a result, the prepress project with PDF as the core cannot be realized.

At Adobe, a program called Postscript Extreme Structure has been considered for the workflow of assembling PDFs. Its purpose is to use a plurality of RIPs for parallel processing of different content files on each page to achieve high-speed RIP processing. In order to process multiple RIPs at the same time, it is necessary to send full-page intelligence, sub-intelligence information, and imposition information to the RIP, and the job description is a Job Ticket. Extreme can perform RIP processing while referring to this Job Ticket.

In the future, we hope that the output and application software of the Postscript Extreme Job Ticket will be presented early.