{"id":5072,"date":"2014-05-01T15:17:33","date_gmt":"2014-05-01T15:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.investintech.com\/resources\/blog\/?p=5072"},"modified":"2019-09-11T09:35:39","modified_gmt":"2019-09-11T09:35:39","slug":"pdf-usability-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investintech.com\/resources\/blog\/archives\/5072-pdf-usability-web.html","title":{"rendered":"PDF Usability And The Web: Is The Format Still \u201cUnfit For Human Consumption\u201d?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Portable<\/p>\n

There has always been a well-documented love-hate relationship between users and the PDF format. You either love it when things go right or hate it when it doesn\u2019t co-operate.<\/p>\n

Yet for better or worse, the PDF document is in our daily lives. We convert and create PDFs, always emailing and reading them no matter how much we may complain about the format.<\/p>\n

But think about what it was like before. Back in 2003, authoritative web usability guru, Jakob Nielsen, criticized the usability of the PDF on the web in his article PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption<\/a>, in which he catalogs what he calls \u00a0the format\u2019s \u201cusability crimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you were an early PDF adopter in the late 90\u2019s or early 2000\u2019s, then you could probably relate very strongly to the article.\u00a0 But would you still agree with it after more than 10 years? Probably not. You can\u2019t deny the format\u2019s improvement since then.<\/p>\n

Despite the misgivings we have about the PDF, we can\u2019t do without it. Because of large scale adoption, ISO standardization, and third party tools, the PDF format is a heck of a lot easier to work with. But it\u2019s also due in large part, to the Internet itself and how it\u2019s been shaping our user habits.<\/p>\n

The State Of Our Online\u00a0<\/strong>Behavior<\/h2>\n

Today we live in a highly technological world that co-exists hand in hand with the Internet. And whether we like it or not, our compulsion to stay connected online greatly influences our need to edit and work with documents on the web, including ones that weren\u2019t meant to be edited.<\/p>\n

We connect and communicate online.\u00a0 Blogs, social media, and forums are endlessly engaged in discussion. Social networks are highly public, yet personal.\u00a0 We need to access and do things online, to create an individual work space which we can control.<\/p>\n

\"Connecting
\nPhoto Credit: Justin Marty<\/a> via photopin<\/a> cc<\/a><\/h6>\n

It\u2019s no surprise then that because of this necessity, the digital documents we use daily are following this trend. \u00a0Our files have become part of the interactive and streamlined user experience.<\/p>\n

Developers have been giving digital documents like the PDF a lot of integrated support. \u00a0Online app services like Google Drive, for instance, allow us to upload PDF documents for viewing, commenting, and sharing, all with a simple URL.\u00a0 Desktop tools are also extending document sharing to real time collaboration<\/a> over the web.<\/p>\n

We can log in from anywhere and check in with our files on-screen.\u00a0 Whether a professional on a tablet or a student enrolled in an online class, we can always connect with PDF contracts and research papers. \u00a0And on top of this, we can read and download PDF e-books from the web onto our mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Using The Internet As A PDF Tool<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s not forget that Google has been able to index PDF files since 2001. Since then, the popularity of PDFs online has grown to such an extent that by 2013, 80% of non-html documents posted online were PDF files<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Admittedly, web browsers back in 2003 didn\u2019t support PDF viewing very well. \u00a0However, browsers like Chrome and Firefox have begun including native PDF viewers. Add to that the ability to create a PDF for fast web viewing and your PDF documents are easier to go\u00a0through than ever.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s interesting to note is that this online PDF viewing and sharing has gradually changed the role of the format itself.\u00a0 Before, the PDF was considered only a final print format. But thanks to online services and advanced PDF creation and editing tools<\/a>, it can be manipulated at any point in the workflow.<\/p>\n

\"PDF<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Saad Faruque<\/a> via photopin cc<\/h6>\n

Consider how and when you\u2019ve used online converters and web apps, or social networks and document search engines for a PDF. What did they do to help you with the file? Given the right utilities and extensions, we can interact with PDFs in our browser or annotate, highlight, and merge them instantly.<\/p>\n

Truth is, it isn\u2019t as hard to work with PDF files online as it used to be. In fact, presenting PDF content online is now perhaps the most basic thing you can do.<\/p>\n

But what do you think? Is the PDF still hard for you to consume online–viewing, handling, or otherwise? It seems that with the way the Internet and the format are developing, there\u2019s no better time to be a PDF user than now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There has always been a well-documented love-hate relationship between users and the PDF format. You either love it when things go right or hate it when it doesn\u2019t co-operate. Yet for better or worse, the PDF document is in our daily lives. We convert and create PDFs, always emailing and reading them no matter how … Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,13],"tags":[40,186,56,155,249,60,34],"class_list":["post-5072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-3-diversions","category-10-pdf-and-the-web","tag-browser","tag-internet","tag-pdf","tag-pdf-format","tag-pdf-tools","tag-social-network","tag-web-tools"],"yoast_head":"\nPDF Usability: Is The Format Still "Unfit for Human Consumption"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An informative post on how our Internet habits have changed the way we work with PDF files and PDF usability in general.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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