PDF Expert Tips:
Metadata 101"Metadata"
sounds technical, but it's the difference between professional search results
and substandard gobbledegook. Metadata is the "title", the "author",
the "subject", or even the "page number"... you get the idea.
The purpose of Metadata is to make it possible to locate and identify documents
to search-engines... and to users. While
PDF supports advanced forms of metadata, including XML, a simple, functional entry
in the Title field of each PDF will do. A professional PDF deployment will leave
no file without at least a quality- controlled "Title". Without this
information, most search engines assume that the first piece of text encountered
in the file is the "Title". The result is poor search results, more
time spent searching, and a not-so-subtle hint of unprofessionalism. Give your
company website the Google PDF test - and see what you think. See below for more
information on the test. The
remedy to poor or non-existent Title metadata is simple. Before publishing your
file online, Control-D to show the Document Information fields. Correct the existing
Title, or add one if it's missing. While you are at it, complete the Author field
as well! We once pointed out to a Fortune 100 CEO that his Annual Report listed
"Captain Ahab" as the "author", which (understandably) irritated
him. Not the desired effect! The Google
PDF Test: See how your company's PDF files show up in a Google search. Enter the
following text into the Google search field: "pdf filetype:pdf site:YOUR-COMPANY.com"
(replacing YOUR- COMPANY with your URL). Call us if you need help! This
link runs a Google search that demonstrates how the IRS handles their PDF metadata.
Check out the search text, then try your own site!
Get
a PDF Tune Up report... for free!If
you serve files to the web or on an intranet, then you need to know about DSI's
plan for your PDF content. For
a limited time, DSI is offering a PDF TuneUp Report, a one-time quality-assurance
service worth hundreds of dollars, at no cost and no obligation. Simply
send us a set of files (one approach would be to start with your public PDFs),
and we'll send you a PDF Tune-Up Report detailing your file's status in 12 core
functional criteria. You'll learn key performance information that will help you
deploy, secure and enhance every user's experience of your content. This
offer is good once per client for a single batch of 100 to 1,000 documents. There
is no obligation whatsoever. It's really easy - and you'll be amazed what you
learn about your files! Learn
more about PDF Tune Ups. Where
is Adobe going with Accessibility?As
of June, 2001, under Section 508 (29 U.S.C. 794d), federal agencies must give
disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable
to the access available to others. Earlier
this year, DSI's President Duff Johnson took Adobe to task for their efforts to
date on accessibility, with an extensive article on the Adobe accessibility strategy,
published on PlanetPDF, the crossroads of the professional PDF community. Acrobat
6.0, slated for release in Q2, 2003, promises some new moves from Adobe on accessibility.
Improved tagging, new navigational features and rudimentary text-to-speech capabilities
deliver significant enhancements in this vital area. Not
a moment too soon, Adobe is finally starting to focus on accessibility as a central
aspect of electronic document technology. Which is good, because the Federal government
now requires that their content be accessible per the terms of Section 508. Vendors
get to learn about it too, and state and local governments are following suit. Read
Duff's article on Planet PDF Acrobat
6.0: Smaller Files!The
latest 6.0 release of Adobe's core Acrobat product offers a breakthrough in scanned
document compression - this time for COLOR images! In
Acrobat 5.0, Adobe introduced support for JBIG2, a glyph-based compression method
that can effectively reduce the filesize of high-quality black-and-white scans
to 30-50% of their original size. Yes... existing files may be "retrofitted"
with JBIG2! With
the soon-to-be released 6.0, Adobe has added support for the new JPEG2000 standard
for color image compression. A wavelet method, JPEG2000 offers dramatic file-size
reductions on high-resolution images. JPEG2000
means a lot fewer megabytes for color documents, more drive-space, and smaller
email attachments. The only limitation - users must have Acrobat Reader 6.0 to
view JPEG2000 PDFs.
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