Portable Document Format file is the file format in Adobe's Acrobat document exchange technology. Acrobat/PDF has become the de facto standard for document publishing. On the Web, there are countless brochures, data sheets, white papers and technical manuals in PDF format.

PDFs solve a chronic font incompatibility problem, in which the target computer does not have the fonts specified in the document. For a graphic artist, font selection is a major element in the design of a page. However, when creating HTML pages for the Web, that choice has been eliminated. Web designers typically use Arial when they want a sans serif font and Times New Roman for a serif font, because they know that those fonts or their equivalents are standard in every computer.

In contrast, PDF files do not rely on the fonts in the computer that displays or prints them. Document designers are free to choose whichever fonts they have at their disposal, and those fonts are embedded within the PDF document. Because the fonts are not distributed for general use, they comply with the font license and do not violate copyrights or patents. Most importantly for the page designer, the page is guaranteed to display and print correctly on any computer with PDF rendering software.

Adobe Reader (formerly Acrobat Reader) is Adobe's free download for displaying and printing PDF files, and hundreds of millions of users have downloaded this software from www.adobe.com.

PDF files also have various interactive features which we have used for clients to create media such as interactive financial presentations which can be emailed directly to end customers.

Adobe
PlanetPDF.com

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