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What Does pdf/PDF Really Mean?We have probably all viewed and printed out pdf or PDF files, pdf being an abbreviation for "Portable Document Format" file. Has anyone else experienced the same exasperation as I, though, at seeing page after page printing with huge margins, sometimes 3" on both sides, and often even larger on top and bottom margins? It may be an easy (?) task to convert a pdf to a text file on a PC, but how many computer users go ahead and print to hardcopy a pdf file which uses many times the paper needed for the actual text? I have seen pdf files that would print to over 100 pages, which if converted to plain text, could be neatly incorporated into less than a dozen sheets of paper. Maybe we should start thinking that PDF stands for Paper Destroys Forests.
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The Portable Document Format
The Portable Document Format has been in use for many years, and it actually it has served very well to enable document processing (always the bread & butter of bureaucracy) in a way that consumes dramatically fewer trees, albeit at the expense of more electricity.
The downside to PDF being so prolific is that it can effectively increase bureaucracy needlessly, and the instances where PDF is used poorly, as you have witnessed, can really annoy many people. I would say this is not the fault of PDF, which as a document format is only an abstract concept. Rather, this is fault of certain PDF authors being inconsiderate of how their readers may use the document (e.g. print it out vs. just read it on the computer). If authors have no real need for their readers to print out material in a specific format (i.e. anything but aesthetic reasons), then they shouldn't use PDF. Plain ole text and even HTML, the language of webpages, are sufficient to transmit textual information that conserves both digital bits and wood pulp.
You do have free tools at your disposal to tame ill-formatted PDF:
Online PDF->HTML conversion service provided by Adobe. Only works with PDFs embedded in a webpage, not with ones saved on your computer.
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/access_onlinetools.html
Page explaining how to use the Gmail to view PDFs
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/12/convert-doc-xls-ppt-rtf-pdf-to-html.h...
PDF-Text converter program (for Windows, ZIP file)
http://www.pdftoall.com/
http://www.digitzone.com/download/ptconverter.zip
Another free PDF->text converter for Windows
http://www.pdf-to-html-word.com/pdf-to-text/
Unfortunately, I can't find any free PDF converters for Macintosh.
Portable Document Format
The original article was not about "document processing" but about hardcopy printing of documents.
The original assertion still stands, in that, when printing to paper, the Portable Document Format file consumes multiples of paper, compared to the plain text file, such as rtf.
And unfortunately, I too, cannot find any free PDF converter for Mac.
Heck, I've even wondered if the creators of the PDF file might have some financial interest in paper companies. Why else would you want mongo margins on pages leaving more white space than text?
I should disclose that I am
I should disclose that I am a geek, and I have worked with all manner of electronic document formats like PDF. The authors of PDF, originally the Adobe Systems Corporation in the early 1990's, are so far removed from its proliferation they'd be best described as both apathetic to its present uses and abuses, but also in consequence unable to encourage more conscientious use of their creation (or profit from it, for that matter). I can readily see how the popularity of PDF has helped promote the mentality that these documents may never be printed out in hardcopy, such that margins are considered irrelevant. But, I can genuinely relate from my own geek perspective that these motivations sprung more from naive desires to create a paperless office, than from any notion of bankrolling the wood pulp industry. It is a sad commentary that PDF has helped exacerbate a problem that it was originally designed to solve.
Since PDF is effectively in public domain, it unfortunately rests on the public to sort out the mess. Apple does disappointingly little to help, with most PDF-sanitizing programs for Mac costing money. Steve Jobs should take notice, if he cares.