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Digitization has become increasingly important in recent years. The problem: for many applications there are different approaches with different file formats. Some developers are trying to bind customers and users much more closely to their own company. These programs are proprietary and often limited to specific platforms. Free use has many more advantages here. It makes it flexible to use and can also work across a whole range of different platforms. One of the best examples is the PDF.
Behind this is the Portable Document Format. Initially, it was a proprietary software solution to the problem of having to reformat text over and over again. In the meantime, PDF has become a standard for cross-platform documents. Both in the business context as well as for private users, the PDF can hardly be imagined in everyday life. The standard now includes a whole range of different applications that are combined in documents – from simple links to multimedia elements. How did the Portable Document Format become so important?
PDF: A look into history
PDF – the Portable Document Format – is used by almost every computer user today. Only very few users know how the story behind it actually began. Adobe is behind the document format. As one of the best-known software developers, the company focuses primarily on solutions for professional applications. This includes graphics programs such as Illustrator or Photoshop. The latter is often used by photographers to always get the best out of their pictures.
With several hundred euros per license, hardly any private user can afford expensive programs. The PDF, on the other hand, is ubiquitous. At first, when the format was introduced by Adobe, this resounding success was not foreseeable – which also has to do with the pricing policy of the software company.
Initial situation, conflicts and necessities
Until the development and publication of the Portable Document Format, digital documents were created with different programs, shared and opened on very different systems. Every PC user can still observe the result today. Simple example: A document is created in the home office for a presentation. The content is correct, a few tables and pictures are added.
At the end, provide the finished presentation with a stylish font, select the appropriate formatting from the format templates – done. The presentation is saved on a USB stick and taken to the office. The surprise when you open it before printing: apart from the content and the text, the complete formatting is for the “bin”. The font size is no longer correct, all the images have been completely shifted and only half of the table can be seen.
What looks great on one PC may not look identical to the same program on another system. Users use today:
different operating systems (Apple versus Windows versus Linux etc.)
various office applications
different program versions.
The problems described affect a whole range of different office applications – from pure word processing to spreadsheets to presentation solutions. Well-known problems that generation of users have experienced.
The best-known example at this point is the .doc format. Ideal as multiple users can share a document and edit or comment on it, it has disadvantages when sharing across platforms.
Good idea, but starting problems
Adobe filled exactly this gap with the Portable Document Format. The idea behind it: A common standard that leads to identical results on all systems. For this purpose, the layout, formatting and the text are recorded as if in a snapshot. No matter how many times a PDF is shared – every user always sees the same thing.
The idea: Once created, the Portable Document Format can be moved without loss or changes in formatting. The new format for documents was presented at the Windows and OS|2 Conference in January 1993. Adobe gave its new PDF another advantage from which every user continues to benefit. Once created, the Portable Document Format cannot be easily changed.
This means that post-processing by the recipient is not possible. Nothing can be added or deleted in a PDF. Manipulations, as in other formats – such as:
bills
offers
reporting
are not possible with the Portable Document Format.
The PDF was finally published in the summer of 1993 – after several years of development work. However, it took years before the format became popular for private users as well. Several problems were responsible.
Competition: Initially, the Portable Document Format was one of several approaches to solving the same problem. Among others, DjVu, Envoy, Common Ground Digital Paper and Farallon Replica made PDF competition. The document management system LaTeX, which is widespread in the academic sector, follows a similar stylistic approach.
Proprietary: For the first few years after publication, PDF was a proprietary document format. This made it impossible to develop external applications. However, the developers have now said goodbye to the proprietary Portable Document Format and published the whole thing via the ISO. An important building block to ensure broad-based acceptance.
Costs: In the early years, neither the programs for creating a PDF nor the Adobe Reader required to open it were free. In doing so, the company tripped itself up and prevented the spread of PDF as an internationally used document standard. However, Acrobat Reader is now freely available. The programs for creating and editing the PDF files are still chargeable. Adobe has meanwhile converted this area to the SaaS model.
ANSI and ISO: The accolade
The fact that PDF has prevailed over other formats is due to a specific event – January 29, 2007. Adobe announced that the specifications for the Portable Document Format 1.7 will be fully disclosed. For this purpose, PDF 1.7 has been disclosed to the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The goal: A publication about the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). With this, Adobe achieved a massive increase in popularity for the PDF format. On the other hand, the developers cut themselves off from the possibility of further developing the Portable Document Format in their own sense. Adobe is now only a member of the technical committee for all versions after PDF 1.7.
Really good or just established?
At first that was Portable Document Format in the range of functions – for example in the implementation of links or the available color space – limited. Only with the later versions did the developers increasingly remove restrictions. With version 1.2, for example, display in the CMYK color space was possible. In addition, plug-ins for web browsers were developed with which PDF files could also be displayed in browser windows.
With the increasing functional expansion and the publication of the International Organization for Standardization, the PDF has become increasingly popular. PDFs now offer a wide range of functions. In addition, it is no longer necessary to work with Adobe software for the creation. It is possible to create corresponding documents from many Office applications. This is now even possible on mobile devices. In the end, there are several reasons for the widespread use. On the one hand the acceptance, on the other hand also the efficiency and advantages of the PDF.
PDF: Key Benefits
The fact that Adobe has pushed all of its competitors from the early years to the margins and into niches with the Portable Document Format is due to several factors. It’s a combination of cross-platform applicability. In addition, detaching from the proprietary character has brought the PDF decisively forward. What are the practical advantages of using the Portable Document Format?
Always there: platform independence
Many private users today rely on PCs and laptops with Windows-based operating systems. According to zdnet, the current Windows OS alone reached more than 900 million users by the end of 2019. Apple’s operating systems also have very high market shares. It’s not just about classic desktop applications.
Apple has built a mobile ecosystem over the past decade – just like Android. There are also other platforms such as Unix or Linux.
All operating systems have one thing in common: the exchange of information and data across platform boundaries. The PDF fulfills exactly this requirement. Platform independence is still one of the driving advantages the format has. A PDF can be opened easily on a computer with Windows 8 or Windows 10. The files can even be opened on devices with macOS – although there are hardly any other points of contact between Microsoft and Apple-based systems.
No more corrupted formatting
A strength of the PDF is the fact that formatting and layout are practically “shock frozen”. Users create the word document, convert it to Portable Document Format using their favorite PDF converter – and can easily share it with other users. What makes the PDF stand out is its stability. Unlike many file formats that are standard in Office programs, the formatting remains stable when the Portable Document Format is transferred. No headings that are displayed in a different font size, and no images that slide from the beginning of a text module to its end.
Even the transfer of digital documents into printed copies is possible with the Portable Document Format without major difficulties and loss of format. In the end, a PDF looks the same on the screen as it does on a piece of paper. In addition, current versions of the Portable Document Format offer functions that are invaluable when using digital media.
For example, authors can set bookmarks for line breaks. In this way, the PDF can be cropped not only for desktop applications. Mobile media are now becoming increasingly important. This gives portability in the Portable Document Format a new meaning.
High security standards
File formats like .doc or .xls have some disadvantages. On the one hand, they cannot be displayed without loss on every platform. Almost every user knows the problem: The document looks completely different on another computer. In addition, these formats are not tamper-proof. Simple example: A start-up sends an invoice in .doc format.
The recipient opens the file and simply crosses out a tens digit. The bill immediately goes down. Such a form of manipulation ends up being a constructed example. In practice, however, it should make it clear that document formats that cannot be easily changed (and manipulated) are used in everyday life.
But PDF now offers so much more in terms of security. The documents can be encrypted to protect them from unauthorized access. If someone only wants to send parts of a PDF document to another person, there is also the option of blacking out individual passages. How this works in detail can be read in this guide. Blackening codes are used, which are quite easy to use today.
Attention: Even PDF documents are not completely safe from manipulation, as researchers have been able to prove. Nevertheless, the whole thing means a significantly greater effort than with other document formats.
2 and 3D graphics
Conflicts can arise when documents are transferred and used on other computers and systems, especially when working with images in documents. It happens to many users that the images are suddenly displayed shifted or the text flow deviates from the original version. A known issue that can cause extremely embarrassing moments for presentations.
With the Portable Document Format, such situations are a thing of the past. In addition to pure text content and hyperlinks, PDF documents can also insert:
formulas
tables
graphics and
Pictures
In this context, the performance of the Portable Document Format has improved significantly in recent years. In the meantime, authors can also store alt texts for the images. These “image descriptions” are displayed when the image cannot be displayed.
Links
Links are now a fundamental part of many documents. Especially on the World Wide Web, these hyperlinks create cross-connections to other content. The anchor can be a phrase in the text or an image. Other page elements can also act as anchors for the hyperlink. Another benefit of working with links in PDF documents is that this allows the author to jump directly to other text passages/areas within the document.
PDF: Worth knowing and importance
The Portable Document Format has long since become an international standard. PDF has become indispensable in business communication. But science is now also using the Portable Document Format on a large scale – to publish papers and studies. The possibility of using the Portable Document Format to develop a form that automatically transmits entered data to a server has led to its use in account opening.
Programs for creating and reading
How can private users create a PDF themselves – without having to use one of Adobe’s tools. With the publication of the system specifications, Adobe paved the way for other companies and developers to create corresponding opportunities. Many Office solutions now come with interfaces that can be used to easily create a PDF.
Documents can be easily saved as PDF or printed out. In addition, there are dedicated apps for mobile OS and software solutions as desktop applications that can be used to create a PDF.
The importance of PDF to the world
With the Portable Document Format, Adobe created a standard that many user groups use today. The meaning of the PDF is corresponding. In the meantime – apart from HTML – information such as text and images are not exchanged in any other format. In addition to business correspondence, which can be kept tamper-proof with PDF, many private users are now also using the format. Given its importance, the Portable Document Format will not disappear from digital information exchange anytime soon.
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