Quote:
Originally Posted by Nate the great
A RANT
The standard size for PDFs is 8.5 by 11 with 10 frakking point font. I hate it! I'm trying to read the document on a 12" screen. I cannot read the damn thing at less than full magnification, and that cuts off about a third of a page. I've always wanted to meet the sadist that set this standard.
But it occurred to me today that I might be in the minority. Perhaps most people print out PDFs. This brings me to the poll: Do you print out most PDFs, or do you read them on a computer?
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There's nothing standard about any particular page trim size for a PDF. The size is something that the PDF's creator sets at the outset. Most of the books that I create are laid out for a 6" X 9" trim size, and the PDFs that I generate reflect that. Ditto font sizes: The creator chooses them.
A document like you describe is painful in the extreme, but unless it's a holograph (which these days means that the pages are scans or photostats of physical printed pages) a page size and font size like that are unnecessary and suggest that the creator doesn't understand book layout very well.
If it is a holograph, then the creator may have had no choice. If he/she was dealing with a pile of physical 8 1/2" X 11" sheets originally printed in 10 point type, then that's what goes into the PDF.
Better reader software and higher resolution digital paper will help a lot with this problem. Things are going to get a
lot better in the next 3-5 years.