PDFs are one of my worst online reading nightmares.
Firstly, I have to wait while downloading the document. Woe betide me if it is a huge 12MB file and I’m accessing the Internet via my snail-speed mobile modem.
Then, I have to pray this document doesn’t cause my computer to crash because invariably, opening the Adobe Acrobat Reader via my web browser uses up more computer memory than I have to spare.
If I get lucky and am able to view the PDF, it’s a challenge to navigate because it wasn’t designed to be read as an online document, but as a print document. The font size can be so tiny that I need to zoom in 200% without needing a magnifying glass.
Jakob Nielsen got it right when he wrote: PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption.
He says, considering the poor usability of PDF for online reading, designers should avoid presenting information unnecessarily in PDF, saving this format only for documents users are likely to print.
References
Nielsen, J, 2003, PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption, viewed 16 February 2011, <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030714.html>
References
Nielsen, J, 2003, PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption, viewed 16 February 2011, <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030714.html>
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