09-23-2008, 02:24 PM | #1 |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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Creating "Tagged PDF" for small screens
I know there's a long thread here on hacking existing PDFs to display on small screens. But when I was creating my own book files to offer for [promotional link], I found information about creating PDFs that would reflow text for easy viewing on handheld devices. With much difficulty, I was able to create these files of my own books, and I now offer two PDF versions for download--one that looks better on a big screen (which I call PDF1), and one that reflows to a small screen (which I call PDF2). I find that, despite the fact that my books are available in a variety of ebook formats, the PDF files are by far the most downloaded. So, the demand is there for PDF for download.
Since I'm trying to send other writers to this forum for help with their conversions, I thought it would be good if information about creating tagged PDF files were here. I'm hoping that someone can offer a simpler method than I used. Here's what I did: I posted a plea for help to my town's email list, and someone with Adobe Acrobat came to my aid (or tried to). She created numerous tagged files for me, none of which would reflow on my PDA. Finally, she got one that worked, but the file size was large (5MB). Then I remembered that I have Adobe Framemaker on my computer from a past freelance job, and I set about lashing it into creating my PDF. It worked, in the end, but it was a brutal battle. It involved guessing wildly at many settings. But the crucial ones seemed to be:
Then I printed to a .ps (postscript) file -- this took a while, and if it went fast, I knew it wasn't working. Then I doubleclicked that file, and Acrobat Distiller kicked in and turned it into a tagged PDF file. Formatting was a trial, too. Blank line space got omitted, unless I made sure there was a space in the line. Each file took many tries before I got a reasonably satisfactory result. But it makes a huge difference in the readability of the PDF. I just tried reading Tor's PDF (from their free download program) of my Battlestar Galactica novelization, and found that it does not reflow on my PDA. So it's not tagged. Has anyone found a less onerous way of creating tagged PDF that I could offer to other writers who don't happen to have Framemaker lying around? Last edited by Dr. Drib; 01-17-2017 at 11:12 AM. |
09-23-2008, 04:53 PM | #2 |
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I build tagged PDF's using Framemaker and do not find them as difficult to do as you seem to but I am glad that you got it working. They really are excellent tagged documents with very good intelligence.
Acrobat pro can add tagging to documents after the fact and it usually does a pretty good job. It does better if it has the source. For free, if you have a PDA that uses ActiveSync on XP (Sorry ActiveSync is not supported on Vista) you can just drag a PDF to the device window. It will be automatically tagged as part of the process. Dragging it back will give you a distributable tagged document. This tagging isn't quite a smart at the two earlier methods but workable. For more on tagging see the PDF article in the wiki. Note, by the way, that a few PDF readers such as Digital Editions do not need pretagged documents in order to reflow them. Dale |
09-23-2008, 05:04 PM | #3 | |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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Quote:
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09-23-2008, 05:10 PM | #4 |
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I use the latest activesync 4.5 on a Jornada 720. How old is your machine? (I also have a Pocket PC 2002 upgraded to 2003, and a 2003SE machine and it works on all of them). I haven't actually tried tagging a file on my Jornada but activesync works.
Dale |
09-24-2008, 02:25 AM | #5 | |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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Quote:
I'm hazy on the details now, but I ran a search on the question and found that it required an updating of something--I think it was ActiveSync itself--to enable the tagging. But when I tried doing that, I had an incompatible system. I think it was the Windows CE that was too old. Anyway, the instructions were to enable the tagging somewhere in the options for ActiveSync; but in my case, there was no such option. I could tell from other comments on the page I was reading that I was not the only one with such a problem. I was corresponding with another author today who had trouble even viewing my tagged PDF on her Treo. But she was using a different PDF reader, not Adobe. |
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09-24-2008, 11:20 AM | #6 |
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Hi
For the Pdf’s to be tagged using activesync you will have to install acrobat for the pocketpc (in your case): http://www.adobe.com/products/acroba...lversions.html And if I remember well, it installs also a component that works with activesync and “tag’s” text Pdf’s when you copy them to the device. A much better way, I think, is to use OpenOffice 2.41 (http://www.openoffice.org) and export from write to Pdf your formatted work. It will “tag” your files perfectly on being used with a small device. If you do not want to install it in your machine, you can use the portable version and run it from a USB drive in any windows machine, without it installing anything. You can get this version, and other outstanding free software from: http://portableapps.com Best regards, |
09-24-2008, 11:33 AM | #7 | ||
Jeffrey A. Carver
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I'll check out that portable version. Thanks! |
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09-24-2008, 12:19 PM | #8 |
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Hi
Version 2.41 of OpenOffice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org) deals perfectly well with Pdf’s - it’s not a program I use normally, just testing it today for a class in Pdf/A I will be teaching Friday, and I’m quite pleased with the results… in my case it creates Pdf/A-1 files with zero errors when checking with Acrobat preflight option. Wish you success, |
09-24-2008, 01:25 PM | #9 | |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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I am installing OO portable on a thumb drive, as we speak. |
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09-24-2008, 02:03 PM | #10 |
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I’m sorry to mixture things.
Pdf/A is the ISO 19005-1:2005 standard, also known as format for the long-term archiving of electronic documents. It’s a subset of the “general” Pdf format. And in this moment it’s in the 1 version, more precisely there are 2 sub-versions, Pdf/A-1a (the most restrictive) and Pdf/A-1b (the more “relaxed” version). You can have more info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/A. Preflight is an option in Adobe Acrobat Creator where one can check if a file complies with a certain Pdf version (besides Pdf/A there are other subsets, like Pdf/X, etc…). Pdf/A is very important to Archivists and Record Managers all over the world, as it can, and we (information professionals) are fighting to make it be, the “de facto” standard for migrating administrative and business documents (analogical and digital) and Archive them for the future. |
09-24-2008, 02:07 PM | #11 |
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It is great to know that OO 2.4.1 will tag PDF files.
If you need a PDF viewer for older PDAs try http://www.hpcfactor.com/. They have a modified version that will likely work. It works on my Jornada 720. See the Palmtop wiki entry for more tricks. Dale |
09-24-2008, 04:59 PM | #12 |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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My, installing software that size on a thumb drive takes a long time!
Anyway, I got Open Office (portable) up and running. I opened my source, a Word doc, and then saved it to a Tagged PDF file. It was quick, it was slick, it had only one important decision to make (check "Tagged PDF"), and it gave a file that looked great in desktop Adobe Reader. Smaller file size than the one I made with Framemaker, too. Just one problem -- it looks like crap on my PDA. It breaks lines in the middle of words, gives very short lines in some places, and correct lines in others. The book title, in large font, breaks in the middle of words. At least as viewed in Adobe 1.0 for Pocket PC, it is completely unusable. I'm not sure where to go from here. Keeping in mind here that my objective is not to solve my own reading problem, which is a non-issue, but to offer other writers some guidance on making their PDF files |
09-24-2008, 05:33 PM | #13 |
Jeffrey A. Carver
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Just to see if there would be any difference, I installed the desktop Open Office, and tried it again. This time I carefully unchecked all options on the PDF screen except "Tagged PDF." Same result. Unusable on my PDA.
Maybe a newer Adobe Reader or another viewer on my PDA would make a difference. But that's not much of a help if you're trying to create a file that anyone can view on their device. Framemaker is doing something different, and something better, than OO. Bummer. |
09-24-2008, 06:07 PM | #14 |
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Hi again
Well it looks you are making progress, even if not in the direction you would like. You should note that today use in pocketpcs is the version 2 and not the version 1, even if it’s from 2002! Very few people have pocketpcs version less then 2003 and mainly what one uses is windows mobile versions 5 and 6. It can happen that the files look much better in these devices with Acrobat 2, then what you are getting with version 1. If you want an example, what I get normally is something very similar to what you can see in Adobes site (left image): http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readerforppc.html And when I enlarge the font, the text just reflows nicely. If you want I can test in my 2 pocketpcs, 2003 and windows mobile 5, with one of your files and try to get back to you. Best regards, |
09-24-2008, 07:04 PM | #15 |
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You need to load the Adobe Reader from the site I referenced and see if ActiveSync will convert your files. It is Reader version 2 by the way.
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