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To: Robert Bethge who wrote (6569)2/2/1998 11:21:00 AM
From: Scott Pedigo  Respond to of 16892
 
We are thinking of using Acrobat PDF files for this and all
other forms. Hopefully that will make them prettier and easier.


Gasp! Nooooo... pleaaaase. Easier??? In a pig's eye.

Everyone with a browser and a laser printer can print HTML forms.
Not everyone can use PDF files.

Last time I wanted a document that was in PDF, I had to try to
download an Acrobat reader for Windows95. How many MB are
we talking? 4MB? 8MB? I forget, but it was a LOT. With my 28.8
modem and the crapola bottlenecks in the Internet dragging down
the transfer speed even below that of the modem, I was looking
at a long download. I gave it a try, but after the connection
stalled for too long, my access provider rather inconveniently
automatically disconnected me. With Netscape 3.0, you can't
restart an FTP transfer where the last one failed. After a
couple of tries at reconnecting and downloading I gave up.

*Assuming* that I had been able to get the Adobe reader, I
would have had to disconnect, shut down any other apps, install
the reader software, and hope like hell that it didn't break
any other applications. My experience in this regard has been
pretty negative. New apps are always overwriting .DLL files
used by other programs and getting things screwed up. One or
two times per year I just give up on trying to patch my
corrupted system, reformat the drive, and reinstall Windows95
and the apps I often use.

So a user without a reader will be forced to do a time-consuming
download, and a possibly dangerous installation, just so that
he/she can even look at a document obtained FROM THE WEB???
Kind of defeats the purpose of the Web, I'd say.

If you want to add PDF in ADDITION to HTML, OK with me, the
more choices the better, but please don't take away the HTML
versions of the forms.



To: Robert Bethge who wrote (6569)2/2/1998 11:36:00 AM
From: David Martin  Respond to of 16892
 
We are thinking of using Acrobat PDF files for this and all
other forms. Hopefully that will make them prettier and easier.


I think this is great! I really like the look and ease of PDF forms.




To: Robert Bethge who wrote (6569)2/2/1998 11:38:00 AM
From: Spots  Respond to of 16892
 
I agree with Scott. PDF is a pain. Unless you need EXACT
formatting (which I can't see applies), HTML is easier,
faster, and works for everybody.

Among other things, PDF can't be saved in any other format
without major heartburn. I go so far as to down load
tax forms, print them, scan them, and load them into a
word processor just to fill out the #^&%$&^ forms.