Back in July, I posted an entry on Adobe’s Apollo project, the cross operating system runtime that would allow users to create their own RIA from the desktop. Well, if you were interested and itching for more back then, you can now catch a glimpse of the PDF-tech-leveraging software in action.


The senior product manager for developer relations for Apollo, Mike Chambers, demonstrates Apollo’s capabilities in a sneak peek on-line presentation. It was recorded from an Adobe Connect conference session held in early November and was just posted this month on the Adobe website.


The demo is 51 minutes in length and covers topics in which you may be interested. In short, Chambers gives a brief background information on Apollo (integrated technology, Q&A and release details), presents examples of Apollo created apps and demonstrates a few steps showing you how it works.


Although the audio is a bit choppy, seeing it visually is definitely better than just reading about it. Check it out for yourselves. Enjoy!

Just in case you’re not into checking the PDF news on a regular basis, earlier this month, Adobe PDF ware has seen security vulnerabilities in its earlier versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat. On the one hand, they can be protected against without too much difficulty. On the other, they can be tricky to detect.


The security vulnerability stems from a hacking method known as Cross Site Scripting (XSS). Although this method is not new to the tech world, it is one of the most commonly used to discreetly gather sensitive information without you being the wiser. And this time, XSS is being aimed at the PDF and is being coined as Universal Cross Site Scripting (UXSS).


Websites that host simple PDF files will usually provide a URL link to it in which malicious users append their own JavaScript code. So when you access the PDF file, the JavaScript code gets executed in your browser. The parameters within the URL get manipulated and, needless to say, with that kind of control, the JavaScript can ultimately allow someone to wreak havoc on your hard drive. All it takes is one click on any of the infinite number of PDF files that are posted on-line.


Are You Safe?


The most vulnerable are users with older versions of Adobe Acrobat and Reader—v.7.0.8 and earlier. Reportedly, Firefox 1.5.0.8 and 2.0.0.1 or Opera 9.x Internet browsers with earlier Acrobat/Reader plug-ins were susceptible to UXSS. IE 6.x with Acrobat/Reader v.6.0.1 were also open to attacks. With the latest versions of Acrobat and Reader, there were reports of error dialogue boxes warning that the file couldn’t be opened. I actually experienced this while researching UXSS for this posting!


To minimize the amount of risk, updating your PDF software might be one of the best precautions to take, if you haven’t already. On the Adobe site you can find patches for Reader and Acrobat v. 7.0.8 and earlier posted up. Unfortunately, while you may be looking out for the latest and best tech products for 2007, you might want to look out for the latest and worst bugs out there as well.

We all know that there are just some things that can’t be comfortably done in front of the screen, one of them being able to read entire books. As an approach to tackle this problem, Adobe, in October 2006, unveiled Digital Editions, a beta web application aimed at creating a more user-friendly experience with digital reading material. And it’s expected to be available in full form sometime early this year.

To help fill you in with a brief summary (or refresh your memory), Digital Editions is a light weight Rich Internet Application for downloading, managing and, most importantly, reading digital publications, such as newspapers, magazines and books, on-screen. Sound like Adobe Reader? It does, except it isn’t.

The complex enterprise uses for the Reader make it inadequate for long periods of viewing and/or reading. The Digital Editions, on the other hand, is designed for performance and on-screen readability outside the browser, giving the user a Flash-based user-experience.

This easy-on-the-eyes user-experience is more enhanced because it further develops the eBook capabilities in earlier versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat and incorporates support for Flash. And with support for an “XHTML-based reflow-centric publication format designed to represent dynamic content” as well, you can ultimately adapt and adjust your digital publications to different reading displays more smoothly.

Giving It A Brief Look

One word came to mind as I fiddled around with the application a bit: simplicity. Navigation buttons in this RIA are discreet and the task bar is hidden, “hovering” when you interact with the document. The black sleek interface actually minimizes the distraction around the document you’re reading. Of course, it includes page viewing options, a library for all your downloaded ebooks, and a text search function for the page that you’re viewing. Adobe also has an eBook sample library up with a mixed handful of novels, software guidebooks and literary classics for you to try out.

You can see it for yourself if you haven’t already. The 2.5 MB download is available from the site and you can get more tech information from the Labs page as well. If you’re looking for an easy digital read, Digital Editions is another thing to look out for in 2007.

The holidays are over for this year and it’s time to get back to work—and back to learning. Here’s the second posting on the ABCs of the PDF and, as promised, a few tidbits behind the day to day elements you use in your PDF work.

Data

The most important thing about a PDF is the data— its printability, its transmission and its integrity. Of course, this last point is the driving force behind the inability to edit PDF content, a quality with which the PDF world is familiar.

There have been notable rants and raves about this and, consequently, about the “usability” of the PDF format, citing issues such as document size and on-screen behaviour as annoyances. And yet, there are strong arguments defending the PDF and the working needs it fulfills with its “set-in-stone” data.

What do we make of this PDF usage debate? What’s the bottom line for PDF users, makers and shakers?

Fantasy: digital documents that aren’t easily manipulated by malicious users.

Reality: file integrity and data extraction go hand-in-hand with the PDF format. The only way to change or work with the data is to extract (aka “convert”) the content.

Conclusion: when working with a PDF, work with conversion in mind —which conversion software is practical for daily use, which format conversions you need, what kinds of PDFs you’re working with (scanned or native), what security features restrict the data you need, etc.

Encryption

And speaking of security, you’ll more than likely encrypt the PDF documents you create yourself. So, here are a few knick-knacks surrounding the encryption you’ll use:

• You may see the word “bit-encryption” when creating a PDF. Bit-encryption, which secure your documents, is based on the use of binary digits

• The higher the bit-number, the more secure your files are because of the increased probability of possible decryption keys. A 128-bit encryption, for instance, has a key length of 128 bits long, meaning that there 2128 possible keys

• Sonic PDF Creator v.1.2 includes 40- and 128-bit encryption

• The DES (Data Encryption Standard) was based on 58-bit encryption and adopted by US Federal government in the 1970’s. The current AES (Advanced Encryption Standard, 2000) is based on the RijnDael algorithm which makes use of128- to 256 -bit keys. It was adopted after winning a 3-year competition against other algorithms

• The concept of the computer, in fact, was based upon “cracking codes”. It was developed during WWII while trying to decode encrypted messages through the use of an “Enigma” machine

Fonts

As a PDF user, you know that part of maintaining the document’s appearance is retaining the textual font within the PDF. Yet, there is more to fonts than just a pretty face.

• There are about 20 components in the anatomy of a letter that define one typeface from another

• There are 3 different types of hyphen/dashes and, of course, vary in usage— and in look, from typeface to typeface (Three? Yes, three. Who would’ve thought?)

• Which fonts are best used for on-screen (PDF) presentation?

• The fonts used in a document affect the way you read the textual information. Serif fonts help to guide a reader’s eye along the lines in large blocks of text. Thus, Times New Roman, for instance, is generally used for printed text. Sans-serif fonts are used ideally for on-screen text because it presents a legible rendition on-screen

• Do you know the history behind the letters and fonts you use in your PDFs?



Hopefully, next time you read or create a PDF, you’ll look and think differently about the extraction, the encryption and the fonts you use on a daily basis. And, who knows, with a little tinkering, you just might create that ultimate PDF!