PassageExpress.com

Bernie Schwitzgebel · Posted: Thu Jan 18, 2007 8:34 pm Post subject: RTF Or Adobe ???

Some of my projects contain text articles or stories and I am sometimes undecided on the best way to present such information. On one hand Passage Express provides the easy option of including RTF (Rich Text File) formats which are readable by most wordprocessor softwares. But I have been surprised in the past at the number of persons who do not use wordprocessing software and are therefore unable to view such files when they are contained in a PE project.

An alternative to using RTF is to convert the text document to a PDF (Adobe) file which is then easily read by persons who have Adobe Reader software installed on their computer. Using PDF has the advantage of letting me to include Adobe Reader in the project so that it can subsequently be installed on the user's computer if they don't already have it. In this way I can be sure that the end user will be able to view such files if they choose to.

I wonder what other PE users are doing. Perhaps other users have discovered other alternatives.
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Bernie

tdew · Posted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:14 am Post subject:

Hi Bernie,

I mostly use .pdf files, as I like the fact that they look exactly the way I want them to on someone else's computer.
I do like the way you can just write a quick rtf file within the program if you've forgotten to explain something though.

I use Paper port and that allows me to print just about anything as a .pdf
file.

I'll be watching to see what everyone else has to say about the choices.
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Terry - volunteer forum monitor

Loretta Shupe · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 2:14 pm Post subject:

I like too, how you can copy a document and then paste it into the document creator. When the person runs the presentation, Passage Express has it's own viewer for displaying the document.

Loretta

Bernie Schwitzgebel · Posted: Wed Jan 24, 2007 4:13 pm Post subject:

Robert Casey · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Austin, TX

Definitely PDF - but then you have to purchase the full version Adobe Acrobat ($150) or get more economical PDF generator. RTF can run into many more problems than PDF as well. Your audience has to have a word processor installed (most do). The levels of RTF vary as well and these word processing program really convert them to their native format with varying results. Usage of odd fonts result in mapping - then you have alignment issues. Acrobat allows you to embed their fonts.

Adobe Acrobat is the Industry standard for document portability which is blessed by almost all major corporations. If you ever want to submit your publication to a printer - most bigger outfits (which have much lower costs) charge a premium of word processing files. They even charge a premium for scanning your photographs and prefer you submit JPG and TIF files. I have been using Acrobat for many years and I am very impressed with all of its capabilities.
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Robert Casey

tdew · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 12:47 pm Post subject:

Hi Robert,

Welcome to the forum! It's good to see some new messages here.

I agree with you on the .pdf As I said earlier, unless it's just a quck added note or an explanation of something, I use the .pdf format.

There are many other methods for creating pdf files.
I've been very happy with the ScanSoft Paper Port program.
It not only creates the files, it also helps me organize each project before bringing it into Passage Express.
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Terry - volunteer forum monitor