Ask Leo! by Leo A. Notenboom

Just what is PDF format, how do I view it, and why do people use it?

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For purposes of this person, I would have expected you to push Foxit way ahead of anything Adobe does. Their software, as you know, is bloated and slow, and too needy...wants to update itself. I also understand some versions "phone home" too.

Posted by: Jim at October 25, 2008 7:37 PM

I prefer PDF-xchange (http://pdf-xchange-viewer.en.softonic.com/) over foxit.
Fred

Posted by: Fred Romig at October 28, 2008 8:49 AM

I used Adobe Reader; but eventually it got to be mostly unreadable. I even uninstalled and reinstalled it a couple of times, to no avail. Then I downloaded Foxit, and I've had no problem since.

Posted by: Frank at October 28, 2008 9:30 AM

PDF. An abomination whose time for destruction has come. It's humongous, slow, clunky, awkward and yuck.
I cannot (and will not) get used to the idea of my cursor becoming a grasping claw hand. Nor will having to learn techniques to use the program (note I do NOT use the word tool) appeal to me. Because by the next time I have a use for it, I will have forgotten the tricks needed to apply the program.
I am really not interested in learning and relearning and relearning and....

Posted by: Cat Moves at October 28, 2008 10:08 AM

I agree with you Foxit is so much better than Adobe. I changed after I had some major issues with Adobe and I can't believe how easy and fast Foxit is. Plus I learned what PDF means, thank you :).. Sincerely Margaret Louk

Posted by: Margaret Louk at October 28, 2008 12:36 PM

I just wanted to say i use this:
http://pdf-xchange-viewer.en.softonic.com/

Its free,simple and im having no problems.
Using Vista Premium.

Posted by: James at October 28, 2008 3:55 PM

Too many people make their manuals with 2" margins, and with each page starting "If you use Win98 do this, . . .If you use XP do that . . etc. "and then lock the text with a password!" so I can't just select the bits I want, and remove all that wasteful white space. I finish up printing ten pages instead of one, which is wasteful of paper and the result is not very easy to use. It is a good idea spoiled by the users (and by Adobe giving them that password). It used to be very sloooow, but as machines have got faster that's not quite such a problem.

Posted by: Martin at October 28, 2008 5:19 PM

I'm sorry, but I just can't agree with PDF-bashers. It was, and is, an elegant solution to a problem that increases in complexity all the time. Back when I was teaching Physics, I used to post the solutions to homework assignments (AFTER they had been checked and discussed in class) on my web site. By simply scanning each page and using Adobe Acrobat to save it in PDF format, I was assured that every student would see every in its original form, in my handwriting. No matter what OS each student used, there was a free PDF reader available for each of them so I didn't need to worry about that. It was even easier with printed documents (labs, practice problems, old quizzes and tests) -- I just used Acrobat to create a copy in PDF format, no scanning required!

So a tip of my cap to the team at Adobe that invented this "universal translator" back in the early 1990's. The original Reader has become unwieldy due to Adobe's efforts to cram so many features into it. But it still works for me, as well or better than its competitors.

Posted by: Stuart at October 28, 2008 10:26 PM

Meh, all you Adobe Reader haters. It still does the best rendering. I use the Lite version which works just fine.

Posted by: avoidz at October 29, 2008 6:08 AM

any hints on how I can easily edit a PDF document? tks

Posted by: mauro lembert at October 29, 2008 7:45 AM
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