Example - Cancer NSF on Adobe Reader
To illustrate the advantages, consider the NSF Cancer Zone in the National electronic Library of Health. It includes the Cancer Plan as a single PDF file which is 350 KB in size and 98 A4 pages in length. Here are a few screenshots on the PC:
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Screenshots of the PDF file on a PC running Adobe Reader. The pictures have been reduced. Top left - cover page Top right - contents page To the left- page 21 Below - page 21 zoomed in |
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Getting the document onto a handheld computer is the first difficulty. Even if you are browsing the internet with a powerful Pocket PC, the downloaded document's appearance is almost useless to the reader. Instead, the document must be converted using Adobe's Reader program for the handheld. It is freely available for Palm-compatibles, Pocket PCs and other devices. But the software is cumbersome on the PC and inefficient on the handheld.
First, the conversion process is lengthy:
When it is complete, the resulting document has mushroomed in size to over 700 KB on a Pocket PC, and over 800 KB on a Palm-compatible. The conversion dialog explains that this is to improve the readability on small handheld devices - a laudable aim, but this is the result on a Pocket PC:
Cover page on a Pocket PC with Adobe Reader
The table of contents on a Pocket PC with Adobe Reader
There is a mysteriously large gap which the user must scroll down
Page 21 on a Pocket PC with Adobe Reader
The result on a Palm-compatible is even worse, despite the larger screen (320x320 pixels vs 240x320 pixels on a Pocket PC):
Cover page on a Palm-compatible with Adobe Reader
The table of contents on a Palm with Adobe Reader
No gaps, but most of the formatting has been lost
Page 21 on a Palm-compatible with Adobe Reader
Most of the formatting has been lost, and the font fails to take advantage
of the screen's excellent resolution
This conversion has been done with the third version of Adobe Reader for the Palm. After several years, Adobe has yet to produce software that is good on handheld computers.
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