Tired of the same old PDF sites? Looking for exciting and interesting stuff in the PDF world? Let’s spice it up!

I searched around for a few PDF links on the web that can help to break the PDF monotony and inspire some creativity in using the PDF format. From communities to downloadable software, there are endless things you can do with the PDF format.

• Acrobat User Communities
This community is a good way to get into the world of the PDF. Blogs, user groups, articles and more, you can get in touch with things happening around the PDF on a regular basis.

• Scribd
From Scribd, the new “Youtube” for documents that’s making headlines. Download interesting documents in PDF format!

• Fictionwise
Forget going into a book store. Just download in the comfort of your own home.

• Comic Book Creator
If you’re creative and want to combine your talents with technology, you can create your own comic book using the PDF format.

• National Geographic
Known visually for their artistic and poignant cover pages, National Geographic has a variety of those same eye-catching images as posters you can download, print and assemble into large sized posters.

• AcroTex
This site was highlighted in an article on Planet PDF. It displays a good idea of what interactive PDFs can do.

• Role Playing Games
Play an angel, an elf or a wizard. You can browse and buy from a resource of RPG games from e23.

• Makezine
From Makezine, a magazine for “do-it-yourself” technology projects that has a “Make PDF” section where you can download instructions for do it yourself projects.

• Oragami
On this website, you can find a whole variety of, you guessed it—PDF origami diagrams for free.


All you gotta do is look around and undoubtedly, you’ll find some cool PDF links of your own. With the World Wide Web, it’s almost impossible to NOT find anything.

First off, my apologies. It has been awhile since the last posting in this series, and there is still yet more to uncover and discover. So for this posting, its about the figures behind the PDF world and information behind PDF links and some tips. If you’re stalking up on some backgrounder bits and PDF facts in preparation for the 2007 Conference, then by all means, read on.

John E. Warnock

The name, the man, the father behind the PDF, Dr. John E. Warnock. Along with Charles Geschke, he co-founded Adobe Systems, Inc. in 1982. Before that, he worked as a computer scientist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1978, where he first developed the Post Script language (aka “Interpress” in its early Camelot development), the page description language which would be the building blocks of the PDF.

For the first two years of the company, Warnock served as president of Adobe Systems Inc. and then was CEO until his retirement from that position in 2000. Warnock has led an active career of achievements in computer technology, being highly distinguished in numerous associations and winner of countless awards for his innovation and influence. He is now co-chairman of Adobe with Charles Geshcke.

Also interesting to note is that he has an Adobe typeface named after him—Warnock Pro. Here is a quoted description: “Warnock Pro’s structure is both rational and dynamic, striking a balance between innovation and restraint.” I wonder if the look of the typeface design reflects his personality. . . .

Kurt Foss

As regular day-to-day PDF user, you hardly notice how quickly names can stick in your head—Kurt Foss being one of them. I first came upon Kurt Foss in the beginning of my PDF research, when I read many blogs and searched many articles (I still do). And his were among the top of the research piles.

And doing a bit of research on Foss himself, you'll find that he has a major presence in the PDF world too. As a long time veteran of the PDF industry, his attraction to the PDF world was a passion for the format, a curiosity about the potential uses and users of the format: “I became increasingly aware of looming technological changes that seemed poised to change the way my profession worked. So I immersed myself in learning about it.” One of his most “notable notables”, in fact, was being one of the first to globally publish newspaper pages in the PDF format, experimenting with how the digital format could work for the printed word.

Foss started out as an Adobe evangelist with the company from 1993-2003 when Acrobat was still in its first version. Since then, he has been web editor of both PDFZone and Planet PDF, and has written articles on issues surrounding the uses of the PDF format. Currently, Foss is the online editor of the Acrobat User Community, a site you may have heard of or been to at one point or another for resources and tips. He keeps up his “Acrobat bytes” blog, commenting, reviewing and reporting anything and everything having to do with PDF.

Links

Linking within a PDF file itself is a great way in which to include more background content within your file. Yet, the hypertext link, itself, has a background history of its own, one associated with Vannevar Bush’s influential work ,“As We May Think”.

The paper contained the first rough concept of the computer, called the Memex, an idea which inspired the creation of the actual hypertext as we know it today. The term “hypertext” was first coined by Ted Nelson in 1965, and its invention is usually accredited to him and American scientist, Douglas Engelbart. In 1968, with Engelbart’s historic “Mother of All Demos”, the first hypertext interface was demoed. And by 1980, Tim Berners-Lee, also another famous name, created a hypertext database system, a system created out of a motivation that became the same driving force behind the World Wide Web and the Internet—to meet the demand of automatic information sharing. The implementation of such hypertext link databases in the late 80’s eventually led to the first stages of the World Wide Web.

Of course, needless to say, when you add links within your PDF, you create the same mini-network of information resources and sites. However, behind the convenience of endless information resources, is the frustration of usability. Web usability guru, Jakob Nielsen , has a few words on the use of links and the PDF, which might come in handy in making that PDF user-friendly and informative.


Hope this helps out with that small talk. ‘Till next time!

Is it a weird question to ask what Al Gore has to do with the PDF? The answer: not at all.

Throughout his political career, Al Gore has been a long time supporter and advocate of environmental issues. He is to Global Warming what Martha Stewart is to homemakers, raising environmental awareness since the late 1970’s.

Since then, he has participated and supported countless environmental events. With programs such as GLOBE in 1994, his Digital Earth in 1998 and the cable television network, Current TV in 2005, Al Gore has kept up to date with growing use of technology and media.

And to his credit, media technology and the Internet have proven to be a huge factor in raising climate change awareness and, more importantly, in providing a way in which it can be improved.


The Paperwork Reduction Act And The PDF

As an early pioneer of the “Information Superhighway” (his coined term), Al Gore’s push for The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 was ultimately a push for digital workflows within the government. The act aimed to make government information economically and efficiently accessible through information technology, and thereby lessening the consumption of paper documents.


Keep in mind that in 1995 Adobe’s first version of Acrobat had already been out on the market for two years. And with Adobe’s vision for the technology to integrate people, information and processes across a spectrum of industries, it’s easy to see how the PDF format could be used as part of that strategy to prevent Global Warming.

So, with his support of policies such as this one, Al Gore is also essentially a supporter of the PDF format’s basic goals as well.


Putting It All together

Lately, Al Gore has moved from political candidate to celebrity figure. In addition to his political career, he’s been appointed director of Apple Inc. and Senior Advisor to Google (during a time of Google Maps and iPods, that’s big), and made TV appearances on shows such as the Tonight Show, Oprah and Saturday Night Live.

And now, an Academy Award winner, his appearance at the Adobe Acrobat & PDF Conference will bring a little more to the PDF, which will definitely help in making a not so exciting format. . . well, exciting.

In just one month, it’ll be time for the Adobe Acrobat & PDF Conference once again down in sunny Florida—a good time and place to network and rub elbows with recognizable names in the PDF industry. Picture the Academy Awards, but in PDF style.

From May 9th-11th it’ll be everything Adobe. For those interested specifically in the PDF portion of the conference, there’ll be big juicy topics you can sink your teeth into that’ll touch upon PDF issues that you’ve been hearing about all year. Thus, among the PDF professionals and software technology you’ll also get the PDF goodies, gossip and gory tech details in full.


What’s on the Menu?

If you haven’t already read about the conference, it’ll cover Adobe and Acrobat technology in 3 tracks over the 2 day period-- technical, user and print.

Hot PDF topics to be on the look out for are sessions on Mars, Adobe Connect and the much anticipated Apollo, which was released just last month in March.

And if you’re a PDF regular, looking to create that perfect PDF, you might want to check out the details on sessions focusing on PDF security and tips on Acrobat 8, PDF workflows and publishing.

Another session also on the radar is the one on PDF standards. There has been a lot of development on that front in the past few months with the PDF itself being submitted for standardization. It’ll be a good chance to look at what the PDF future has in store for you.

And one of the major buzzes for this year’s conference is Al Gore as one of the keynote speakers in attendance. As former VP of the United States of America, Al Gore has advocated and promoted environmental causes during his career. The most notable one for our industry being his push for the Paperwork Reduction Act in 1995, which boosted recognition for the PDF’s positive role in administrative workflows. So, get your cell phone cams ready, you never know when a photo-op will present itself!


The Investintech Presence

And of course, Investintech will be there too. Last year, at the 2006 conference, we unveiled our Absolute PDF Server technology. So feel free to check in with us there.

If the conference sounds like something you’re interested in, and you or your company haven’t yet registered, don’t worry there’s still time. You can still check out the details and register on the website.


Cheers!