PDFs and bookmarking.

[Kanegrundar]

Bookmarks are very helpful and much appreciated.

 

[Marius Delphus]

Should this poll have an "I don't care" option?

One company I asked said that it was a compatibility issue with older computers and versions of Acrobat.

I'd be dubious that's really the case. Let's be generous and say that's a problem with Acrobat 4 (I don't think it is, but still). According to Adobe, that means the following users couldn't see the bookmarks:

- Anybody on Mac OS before 8.6

That's all. Basically every other operating system for which Adobe makes Acrobat Reader can use version 5, 6, or 7. Now, I really think Acrobat 4 can see bookmarks*, which raises the following question in my mind: who is unwilling to upgrade from Acrobat 3?

* Any users of Acrobat 4, please feel free to verify this for me. I'd kind of like to know.

I think a more interesting question might be "would you be willing to pay a little more for a bookmarked PDF?" That is, do people recognize that it takes a bit of effort to keep the bookmarks accurate during development and would they be willing to pay, say a 5% higher price?

I've produced a couple PDFs with bookmarks, and I don't think 5% is justified. I might be biased, because I don't find that a decent set of bookmarks is that difficult for me to create; in fact, once I had a project or three under my belt, the process I'd developed made pretty good bookmarks as basically a side effect of generating the PDF in the first place. The process does require a disciplined approach to the book's outline in the publication/word processing software, but as I'm more or less compulsive that way, it works out all right for me.

In both Word and InDesign, the secret is to assiduously apply the paragraph styles which denote outline levels. Once you've done that, generating bookmarks at, at minimum, the Table of Contents level is just a matter of making sure one of the checkboxes in Acrobat is checked. (I don't know if it's more trouble without at least Word and Acrobat, so keep in mind I have access to the "right" software.)

So I prefer to see bookmarks in a PDF I've purchased (and so do most people, or so I heard after my first PDF went up for sale without them; oops).

 

[Berandor]

When I review a book, no bookmarks is a definitive loss in the final score. I boookmark even my Story-Hour. It's not hard, and it's extremely helpful. It's one of the big advantages in regard to print copies - being able to directly go to the article I want - so if a publisher doesn't use it, I just think he's lazy.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Currently the vote is 61 to 3.

We need to weight the "yes" responses if this is going to come anywhere near a close race. Maybe the question should be rephrased "Which would you rather have, a non-bookmared PDF, or a bookmarked PDF with a picture of Biggus Geekus in his underwear on the front cover?

That'll even it up.

 

[Crothian]

or a bookmarked PDF with a picture of Biggus Geekus in his underwear on the front cover?[/i]

I'll take a dozen!!!

 

[Uder]

I think a more interesting question might be "would you be willing to pay a little more for a bookmarked PDF?"

Zero extra dollars. I just wouldn't buy another PDF from a company that didn't include bookmarks. Well, assuming the PDF was long enough to need them.

That is, do people recognize that it takes a bit of effort to keep the bookmarks accurate during development and would they be willing to pay, say a 5% higher price?

Just do the bookmarks as the last step, and you don't have to worry about updating them.


Hyperlinks are another story... Hyperlinks are worth some extra coin.

 

[Aeric]

For me, bookmarks make the difference between a useful tool and an non-useful tool. I simply don't have the time to click through a PDF page by page at a game session, and I don't have the patience to do so when I'm at home.

 

[philreed]

Publishing a PDF that doesn't include bookmarks is so 2002.

That said, I can't see how anyone would publish a PDF and not include bookmarks. It just strikes me as a sign of a lazy amateur.

 

[Conaill]

This question seems so obvious that I didn't even bother voting.

On the other hand, it tells you *nothing* about how much of a competitive advantage bookmarks provide. Personally, I rarely use bookmarks, so given the choice between a PDF without bookmarks and one with bookmarks that costs a dollar more, I might be tempted to pick the $1 cheaper one...

If I had to choose between a PDF with or without a free stick of gum, I would pick the one with the free stick of gum (even if it's wintergreen or cinnamon).

If the choice was between a PDF with bookmarks and one with an index, I would ALWAYS choose the latter! (Unless the bookmarks are so extensive they can serve as an index, of course...)

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Hail to the Bookmarks, baby!