PDF Software

[MusedFable]

I have a few questions about PDF software, and I thought you nice people at en-world's e-publishing forum would be able to help.

The only thing Adobe Acrobat does is "print" other programs files into PDFs? For hundreds of dollars that seems very limited. It does not do layout right? Sure, it probable has some other features I'll never use, but in general it just adds a "save as PDF" feature to MS Word?

If that's all Acrobat does, then why not get Acrobat Elements? It's only $40 (cheaper if you search online). Can you sell the PDFs you make with Elements? I already have Photoshop Elements (it came with my computer), and it has most of the Photoshop features and has a CD key to register.

I'm assuming I'm correct in thinking Acrobat only saves the PDFs. So, PageMaker would do the layout right? The library had a guide for PageMaker and it seems to do all my layout needs. It has style sheets, so I can have a unified look without to much hassle. I think you can make sidebars by either using textblocks or frames. Does PageMaker allow me to set points around textblocks/frames so the main body of text gets "pushed around" the sidebar?

I'm currently a college student, so I can get a huge discount right? If I buy them with my student discount can I use them as a business? Anything you think I missed?

 

[Cathix]

The only thing Adobe Acrobat does is "print" other programs files into PDFs? For hundreds of dollars that seems very limited. It does not do layout right? Sure, it probable has some other features I'll never use, but in general it just adds a "save as PDF" feature to MS Word?

Acrobat doesn't just print; it creates a pdf file. That might seem like 'just printing' but when you consider the wide variety of pdf files one can create Acrobat's usefullness becomes a bit more apparent. You can adjust the settings of Acrobat's print engine in a myriad of ways, creating low-res, compact, made for screen viewing only files...all the way up to huge whomping gorgeous hi res files that contain entirely embedded fonts. Acrobat is especially useful to publishers who wish to offer their products in both pdf and print. When you send a pdf file to the printer, there's no worry that printer will lose your image files or replace your fonts with slightly different, ill-fitting versions. Your printed copy will only suck if you've goofed, which is reassuring. Unless you've goofed. *has on occasion*

If you printed to pdf from a more complex layout program, like Pagemaker, you'd get to see more of Acrobat's features in action.

I'm assuming I'm correct in thinking Acrobat only saves the PDFs. So, PageMaker would do the layout right? The library had a guide for PageMaker and it seems to do all my layout needs. It has style sheets, so I can have a unified look without to much hassle. I think you can make sidebars by either using textblocks or frames. Does PageMaker allow me to set points around textblocks/frames so the main body of text gets "pushed around" the sidebar?

Pagemaker is indeed a layout program. However, CorelDraw, MS Publisher, Powerpoint, and MS Word can all be used as layout programs. Pagemaker has more range of use, but it's also more complex. If you can get a good discount as a student I would recommend Adobe InDesign, because I've used Pagemaker, Quark, and finally acquired InDesign. It's wonderful, especially if you want to eventually create high-quality print books.

As for your mentioning of 'pushing around' text...that's referred to as many things in many programs. (Quark refers to it as 'inset', and so does InDesign - Pagemaker might, too.) Your best bet is to find the dialog box that controls your text box settings/features/modifications...that's in a slightly different place depending on what program you use and I don't have Pagemaker on this laptop so I can't open it and check. But that's a standard feature of layout programs.

I'm currently a college student, so I can get a huge discount right? If I buy them with my student discount can I use them as a business? Anything you think I missed?

I'm sure you can get a good discount as a student. And if you purchase software you can use it for any purpose you see fit.

The main point is this: determine what your goals are and why you need to create pdf files. Will you only be selling e-books or do you plan on using print-on-demand or printer services further down the road? If you only want to sell pdf's - especially if the books you plan on creating are going to be on the small side, 30 pages or less, then you can make professional looking books with Microsoft Office programs. They might be very simple, but good design comes from choice of font, color, white space, leading, etc...not the program it's been created with.

Large books (50 pages +) are considerably easier to create with professional layout software, however, and these programs are also capable of handling hi-res graphics, so if that's your goal than do check out other programs. Most companies will let you download a trial version - I would recommend this so you can get a feel for which application you like the best.

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Another recommendation for InDesign. Like a set of premium brushes, it won't magically turn you into an artist, but it'll make it easier to release the artist within.

Yes, you would do all the layout in your chosen layout program, whether it be PageMaker, InDesign, or what have you, then export to Acrobat. But 99% of the time you're not done! I have a feeling Acrobat Elements would feel frustratingly limited to those of us that have Acrobat Standard or Professional, but I don't know that for certain. Either way, if you are planning to sell PDFs online, you need your Acrobat to have the capability to create and manage bookmarks and hyperlinks, add/subtract/sort pages, vary image resolution and compression for the best balance between file size and fidelity, embed fonts, include vector art, and make any last-minute typo edits (because once you are done with all of the above you will not want to re-generate the PDF and start over after finding a misspelled word). If Elements can do all that, that's great. But personally I swear by Acrobat Professional (with, as I say, InDesign on the back end).

HTH. HAND.

 

[D_Sinclair]

Acrobat does significantly more than simply create PDFs. Depending on what version you obtain, you can:

build interactive forms, complete with database access.
insert video and audio clips.
build a search index for the contents of an entire folder of PDFs.
insert javascript-based programming features.
merge PDfs into a single PDF document.
extract pages into a new PDF.
Add bookmarks, hyperlinks, page thumbnails, and other navigational aids.

 

[Jolly Crims]

I'm sure you can get a good discount as a student. And if you purchase software you can use it for any purpose you see fit.

I am pretty sure this is not always the case. I recall a lot of educational software having clauses against it's use in a commercial application (non-educational). You have to look at the sales/software agreement to get the real skinny on legalities.

The standard Acrobat is more delitful to use over a straight print-to-PDF plug-in IMO.

 

[Rasyr]

You might want to also check out the following - http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

 

[Sledge]

Don't forget Open Office

 

[MusedFable]

Okay, I figured out what the difference between the different levels of Acrobat are. Elements only prints as PDF and doesn't allow resolution control or bookmarks. Standard does all the things most of you told me about. Professional allows for precise control on compression, professional quality printer stuff (like save EPS files and convert to CMYK), and Templates (imports them, helps create them, ect).

So... Elements=just makes a pdf. Standard=good for e-publishing. Professional=advanced options for book printing and don't forget templates.

After poking around looking at the different layout programs it's obvious I should get InDesign. Because it's the cheapest . Pagemaker 7.0.2 w/ student discount is about $300. InDesign CS2 is $180. That doesn't make any sense, but I won't complane.

I've used a lot of these programs, but I didn't remember what did what (I was spoiled at school and didn't think to remember where one left off and the other started). I hate Quirk. I don't know why, but it's just completely unnatural to me.

Thanks for all the help

 

[Allura]

You might want to also check out the following - http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

Will this let me edit the text of a pdf made with something else? And is the result still compatible with Adobe Reader 7? I'm asking because I've had multiple instances where it would be vastly simpler if I could edit text myself during the proofing phase, rather than sending a list of changes for layout to hunt down and find. Adobe standard 7.0 seems a bit expensive for that purpose.

I suspect I've asked this before, but I can't find the thread, and this one's more recent anyway.

 

[afstanton]

<snip>
I'm sure you can get a good discount as a student. And if you purchase software you can use it for any purpose you see fit.
<snip>

Not necessarily. There are several pieces of software whose academic licenses prohibit commercial use. Microsoft's dev tools come to mind off the top of my head.