What is PDF?
Portable Document Format (PDF) is a special document
format from Adobe Systems Inc., a software company.
The file format allows users to create Web-ready documents
that preserve the look of the originals, even down to
the fonts and text colours. The PDF file can then be
viewed by anyone with Acrobat Reader. Adobe freely distributes
Acrobat Reader, the software necessary to view, print,
navigate and search PDF files.
When properly configured on a workstation, the Adobe
Acrobat Reader software can be launched by the browser
any time a PDF file is encountered. You can download
the Acrobat Reader at the Adobe Systems Web site. As
well as representing the printed pages of your document,
PDF supports additional navigational aids such as hyperlinks
(links to URL addresses), bookmarks (links from one
page to another) and also links to sound files and video
files.
Accessible PDF
An accessible plug-in that allows access to PDF documents by persons using adaptive technology
for screen reading is available from Adobe Systems' accessible information page.
The tool converts PDF documents into simple HTML or ASCII text, which can then be read by a
number of common screen reading programs that synthesize
the HTML as audible speech. The accessible plug-in can
be obtained from Adobe
Systems' accessible information page.
|