Reply To: Please help! interactive pdf problem!

I think we’re going around in circles, David. :-)

I agree 100%, if you want to send something as an email attachment (or archive something or print something), PDF is a great format. However, I don’t think it’s accurate to call it “interactive.”

This isn’t a slight against awesome content distributed as PDFs, like InDesign Magazine.

Again, I use PDF every day. And I love it.

Re: “The PDF (Interactive) feature is a method for exporting a PDF from InDesign that includes a few additional interactive features that PDF (Print) cannot do” — what’s left? Fullscreen mode, etc is specific to Adobe Acrobat/Reader and won’t work in most other readers. What distinguishes an “interactive PDF” that is reliable across readers?

I would qualify that HTML can be downloaded…it’s just not great to send as an email attachment.

“Just HTML” can support just about any interactivity imaginable, in every browser (and elsewhere) without a plugin. Which is what I was asserting. Whereas, PDF cannot.

I didn’t say PDF was bad for emailing or archiving, etc– just that its interactivity is limited to hyperlinks, which doesn’t merit the term “interactive” even by PDF’s standards.

I’m still happy to just agree to disagree, but I think it’s important to know what each format supports and what it doesn’t.

I don’t think we disagree about the content of the article, perhaps just the title.