[LINK] Government gives thumbs down to PDF format

[Steven Clark]

On 01/12/10 21:56, Ivan Trundle wrote:
> I just loathe the use of 'alternate' when the author means 'alternative'...
American managerial-isms have really caught on ...
> It's not hard to create single-column text PDFs, but give a designer a head of steam, and you're in an alternate universe.
It's got too much pressure, cap'n, she's gonna blow!

What tends to happen is someone puts together a flashy document using
everything they learned about Word in a three-day course - and they hit
a button that generates a PDF 'version'.

Though my 'favourites' are still the PDF files that are merely
compilations of scanned pages. The ultimate expression of inaccessibility.

You have the same problem with a lot of websites - all flash, and little
substance.

[I realise that sometimes documents are scanned 'into' PDF files to
ensure that no embarrassing meta tags get leaked - but there's an 'app
for that' now - and has been for some time.]

-- 
Steven R Clark, BSc(Hons) LLB/LP(Hons) /Flinders/, MACS, Barrister &
Solicitor

PhD Scholar
School of Commerce, Division of Business
City West Campus, University of South Australia (UniSA)
<http://people.unisa.edu.au/Steven.Clark>

Deputy Director, Community Engagement Board (CEB)
Chair, Economic, Legal and Social Issues Committee (ELSIC)
Australian Computer Society (ACS)
http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=show&conID=acscas
<http://www.acs.org.au/index.cfm?action=show&conID=acscas>

*Disclaimer:* This is email is not legal advice. Comments and statements
above are based on my understanding of the issues at hand, and my
attempts to understand them. They are intended to add to, and elicit
discussion. Unless explicitly stated otherwise, opinions and statements
are mine, not those of UniSA or the ACS.