Re: Newsletters

Shelley

Acrobat will convert any document to a PDF file, preserving the 
appearance of the original. That's it's job, it was designed to 
provide a means of making documents accessible across all platforms 
regardless of the application they were created in. I use Adobe 
InDesign which my favourite print shop doesn't have, so I send the 
files in PDF (Acrobat Distiller is built in to InDesign) and we're 
all happy. Exporting to PDF if the original document isn't created in 
an Adobe application is a two stage process and needs a bit of study. 
Anyone with the Acrobat Reader will be able to view and print your 
newsletter.

The down side is that PDF files are, in web terms, enormous. Images 
for print are usually 300dpi TIFFs, and Acrobat embeds all the fonts 
in the document which bumps the file size up a fair bit. Estimate 
35-40k per font and bear in mind that eg Times New Roman Bold and TNR 
Italic are two separate fonts. Other print related stuff like 
halftone screens and colour trapping info also add to the file size.

I can't speak for Word's way of creating PDF files, after 6 years 
working with Mickey$oft products the thought of Word gives me a rash. 
There is software on the market which claims to write PDF files, 
reports I've heard are mixed. Can't remember any of the names right 
now.

If you need to put the newsletter on the web in it's original form 
PDF is definitely your best (only?) option. You could try reducing 
the images to 72dpi before you export to PDF,  but the file size will 
still be substantially bigger than a normal web page. Might be a case 
of having to bring your viewers up to speed with Acrobat Reader.

If an email arrives here with a .doc file attachment, it gets shot on 
sight - some of your recipients might feel the same way! If not PDF, 
would RTF work?

I'd be interested to hear  your solution.

Regards.

Freda
-- 
'Never give up on what you know in your heart to be right. The world 
needs you and your commitment, desperately'  - John Denver. 
http://www.thp.org 

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