 Building
Interactive PDF forms: A Primer
Interactive
PDF forms are one of the star features of PDF files.
For simple applications, there's no programming at all.
Simply draw your fields, and presto! Users can type
into your form, submit the contents to a server, or
print it out for a paper workflow.
Here
are a few tips for building interactive forms you won't
find in the Acrobat help file.
Build
your fields before building your form
Creating
a project "library" of standardized form-fields
is the single best way to insure continuity throughout
your forms. Even if you aren't going to connect your
PDFs to a server anytime soon, building fillable forms
from fields copied over from a library PDF standardizes
your content and makes maintenance far easier. And if
you do connect your forms to a server, you'll be very
glad you standardized your forms!
Choose
only from the "standard" acrobat fonts
While
it is possible to use virtually any font in a PDF form-field,
going outside the "basic" Acrobat fonts; Courier,
Times and Helvetica, is not recommended without serious
consideration.
Using
non-standard fonts requires that Acrobat embed the font
inside your PDF file, ensuring it is available to other
users who may not have the font on their computers.
No problem... except that each font can easily add 100,
150, even 200 kb to the size of your PDF form. For higher-volume
applications, or where bandwidth is a consideration,
it's important to not get too fancy with your form-field
fonts.
For
electronic-only forms, use combo and list- boxes instead
of checkboxes
Combo
(select one from a list) and List (Select one or more
from a list) fields can dramatically reduce the number
of fields required on form. This makes forms easier
to navigate and complete rapidly with the keyboard alone.
Combo and List fields also reduce forms-development
and implementation time, because there are fewer and
more flexible fields.
On
the other hand, for forms that may be printed and completed
by hand, DO use checkboxes!
Just
because you plan to have people complete your form onscreen
doesn't means it's necessarily the only way. If your
application allows users to print for hand-completion,
then combo boxes are worse than useless... they leave
the user, pen in hand, wondering what to do next.
Size
Matters!
Part
of the reason to use a form-field library is so that
you can ensure all your fields are of uniform size when
you add them to your forms. When some are short, and
others tall, it creates a distinctly unprofessional
appearance, and can even block out needed text from
the user's view.
To
ensure all your fields are correctly sized, create "master
fields" in your library (see above), and use only
these fields in your forms.
 Making
your PDFs work with Google
AcrobatUsers.com
launched in February, 2006, and continues to grow. Most
exciting is the new Acrobat
User Group Chapters initiative, Adobe’s effort
to connect Acrobat users to each other locally and globally.
As
part of the site’s launch, AcrobatUsers.com invited
DSI CEO Duff Johnson to contribute a number of articles
exclusively for publication on the AcrobatUsers.com
site.
One
of Duff’s articles published for the launch of
AcrobatUsers.com struck a chord with many users, so
we decided to offer it again in this Newsletter.
PDF
files usually present lousy results to Google and other
search engines, and there's precious little information
out there as to why.
In
this
article, Duff addresses this issue and delivers
some bottom-line wisdom on how to improve the search-engine
performance of your website's PDFs.
Making
your PDFs work well with Google (and other search engines)
on AcrobatUsers.com
 DSI's
Duff Johnson reviews PdfCompressor
CVISION
Technologies has set themselves the goal of being
the go-to company to solve the common problem of bloated
PDF, especially PDFs from scanned documents.
The
PdfCompressor product is aimed directly at medium and
high-volume scanning operations. It promises a powerful
yet simple and reliable tool for producing slim PDF
files, right from scanner output folders.
In
this review
for Planet PDF, Duff Johnson takes a close look at PdfCompressor.
Among the discoveries - the application does a superb
job recognizing text, even on colored backgrounds. The
OCR is top-notch, and the interface puts all the major
conversion functions within easy reach.
True
to form, it wouldn't be a Duff Johnson software review
if there weren't a few gripes. Chief among them is the
unfortunate reality that image segmentation the way
PdfCompressor does it significantly reduces on-screen
image quality in Acrobat 6 - but not 7.
This
fact notwithstanding, PdfCompressor is a powerful and
versatile tool for PDF conversion. Discerning consumers
should take the time to consider their options, and
their options should include PdfCompressor.
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