Using PDFs Student Web Presence Guidelines Summary 1. PDFs are - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Mar 10, 2023 324 likes •427 views

Using PDFs Student Web Presence Guidelines Summary 1. PDFs are for printing 2. Why people use PDFs 3. Problems with PDFs 4. When to use PDFs 5. PDFs and the Content Management System 6. References 1. PDFs are for Printing Chairs are

SLIDE 1

Using PDFs

Student Web Presence Guidelines

SLIDE 2

Summary

1. PDFs are for printing

2. Why people use PDFs
3. Problems with PDFs
4. When to use PDFs
5. PDFs and the Content Management System
6. References

SLIDE 3

1. PDFs are for Printing

“Chairs are for sitting. PDF is for Printing.“ (Flanders)

PDFs are good way to distribute documents
PDFs are formatted for printing
Usability of PDF 300% less than normal web pages
Web users want information from the web not documents
If it is written in document format it is not likely to be designed for

the web

PDFs contain writing that is not intended for the web
PDF links are not always labelled as such
Most PDFs lack navigation tools
Many PDF can not be read by screen readers used by visually

impaired

SLIDE 4

2. Why people use PDFs

“Content providers save money by not having to convert the information into a Web-suitable format” (Neilsen)

Lack of time, technical knowledge and resources
Content owners can shift cost of printing to the user
It is easy to publish to the web
Looks good
The software for view the file is free
Content owners (mistakenly) think a pdf is a adequate substitute

for web information

Content owners do not have the time to write specifically for web
Accessible by different operating systems / browsers
Has design features that are hard to replicate on CMS

SLIDE 5

3. Problems with PDFs

“… you are providing a paper document on the web rather than web-based information” (Reddish)

Not designed for screen – Low usability
Layouts optimised for a sheet of paper
Screen landscape, PDF portrait
Will not create loyal customers (return visitors)
Not accessible via mobile devices
It disrupts user movement through the web pages
User can get lost - difficult to navigate around the document
Search engine results take you to the first page only
You need to learn an new navigation
People close the PDF and lose the source html page
Slow to load (poorly formatted / lacking image optimisation)

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4. When to use PDFs
Where you expect people to print
Forms
Sections of larger documents
Product / service information sheet
For sharing / archiving journal articles / academic papers
For distributing large documents that people will download
Where you have split the documents into smaller chunks
Where you have prevented search engines from including pdf

content in the results

Where you explicit the PDF is for printing only
Where you have created a gateway page:
Warning users they are about to enter a PDF
Summarising the content of the PDF
Linking to sections of the PDF
Instructions on downloading the PDFs
Where all backlinks are directed to

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5. PDFs and the CMS
Older document versions will remain more popular
Overwrite old document by naming it the same
Embedded to old documents
Keep downloads on the right hand side page
Many old documents can still be found on web
Remove old documents from the CMS
Duplicate documents that belong to several pages
Upload the document to the parent folder and source that copy only

SLIDE 8

6. References
Flanders, “Chairs are for sitting. PDF is for Printing”.
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/pdf.html
Neilsen, “Gateway Pages Prevent PDF Shock “
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/gateway-pages-prevent-pdf-shock/
Redish,” Breaking Up Large Documents for the Web - Part 3”
https://www.uie.com/articles/breaking_down_documents_part3/