You design Adobe Acrobat eBooks in a word processor or page layout program and then convert their documents to PDF. You can then perform any lastminute tweaks in Acrobat, such as adjusting text flow or linking multimedia objects, and then view your final product in the Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader on your computer, laptop, or on a Palm OS or Microsoft Pocket PC handheld device. Note that Acrobat 6 and Adobe Reader 6 now support the purchase and downloading of eBooks. As of this writing, Adobe plans to discontinue the Acrobat eBook Reader, though users of that program can continue to purchase and download eBooks as long as current eBook distributors support that program. PDF files come in three document structure flavors — unstructured, structured, and tagged. Structured PDF files enable you to convert or repurpose a PDF for another format, such as RTF (Rich Text Format), while retaining much of the original page layout and reading structure. Tagged PDF files have the highest degree of success in retaining their original formatting when converting to RTF and are also able to reflow text, which is not the case with unstructured or structured PDF files. For the purpose of creating eBooks, then, you should always use tagged PDF files, because they offer the most flexibility when it comes to viewing the final product on the greatest number of viewing devices.
The following programs allow you to convert their documents to tagged PDF files in order to build an eBook:
_ FrameMaker SGML 6.0 (Windows and Mac OS)
_ FrameMaker 7.0 (Windows and Mac OS)
_ PageMaker 7.0 (Windows and Mac OS)
_ InDesign 2.0 (Windows and Mac OS)
_ Microsoft Office (Windows 2000 and XP only)
Adobe Reader 6 and Acrobat 6 were developed to provide a means of viewing PDF eBooks on a computer screen or laptop. Because of their size, computer screens are well suited to display graphically rich page layouts that re-create the reading experience of a printed book. For designing these types of eBooks, page layout programs (PageMaker, InDesign, or FrameMaker) are the best tools to use. In addition to allowing complex page layouts, their ability to create tagged PDF files adds a higher degree of accessibility for visually challenged users viewing PDF files in either Adobe Reader or Acrobat.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Importing/exporting form data
The Acrobat 6 Import/Export feature allows you to move data in and out of a PDF form. That data can be imported into another PDF form or archived in a file format that is optimized to save space. When you export data from your form, Acrobat creates an FDF (Forms Data Format) file. This file contains only the data found in a form’s fields, so it’s much smaller in size than the original PDF form. After converted to FDF, any other PDF can import that data, as long as its field names match those of the original form. Field names that don’t match are ignored in the import process.
After you have your form up and running, you can export its data by choosing Advanced➪Forms➪Export Forms Data. Type a file name for the FDF file in the Export Form Data As dialog box and click the Save button. To import data from an FDF file, choose Advanced➪Forms➪Import Forms Data and then, in the Select File Containing Form Data dialog box, locate the file and click Select (Open on the Mac).
Keep in mind that importing and exporting field data is not the same as collecting and distributing form data through a browser on the World Wide Web. FDF files can reside on a network server, and users can access them on a company intranet, and you can even e-mail the FDF files to others to perform import/export functions right on their computers. In order to collect your form data and distribute it over the Web, you need to use a CGI script written specifically for the form you want to use. If you’re not familiar with coding CGI scripts, you’ll have to leave it to the IT administrator of your company or Internet service provider’s Web server.
Acrobat 6 also allows you to import data from a tab-delineated text file into a PDF form. This type of file is a text table that you create by placing a tab between each entry to create table rows. The first row serves as columnar field headings for the table and is filled with names that correspond to the field names found in your PDF form. Subsequent rows correspond to the data to be entered in those form fields. You can create this text file in a word processor such as Microsoft Word, but I find it easier to create the data table in Microsoft Excel and then save it as a tab-delineated text file in that program.
After you have your form up and running, you can export its data by choosing Advanced➪Forms➪Export Forms Data. Type a file name for the FDF file in the Export Form Data As dialog box and click the Save button. To import data from an FDF file, choose Advanced➪Forms➪Import Forms Data and then, in the Select File Containing Form Data dialog box, locate the file and click Select (Open on the Mac).
Keep in mind that importing and exporting field data is not the same as collecting and distributing form data through a browser on the World Wide Web. FDF files can reside on a network server, and users can access them on a company intranet, and you can even e-mail the FDF files to others to perform import/export functions right on their computers. In order to collect your form data and distribute it over the Web, you need to use a CGI script written specifically for the form you want to use. If you’re not familiar with coding CGI scripts, you’ll have to leave it to the IT administrator of your company or Internet service provider’s Web server.
Acrobat 6 also allows you to import data from a tab-delineated text file into a PDF form. This type of file is a text table that you create by placing a tab between each entry to create table rows. The first row serves as columnar field headings for the table and is filled with names that correspond to the field names found in your PDF form. Subsequent rows correspond to the data to be entered in those form fields. You can create this text file in a word processor such as Microsoft Word, but I find it easier to create the data table in Microsoft Excel and then save it as a tab-delineated text file in that program.
Tabbing through a form
A form’s tabbing order is the order in which the user selects fields when he or she presses the Tab key. This order is initiated when you add the first field and continues from there as you add fields to a form. Now if you know this ahead of time and are keeping track of the way you want the form filled out as you add fields, everything will work out fine. If you’re like the rest of us, you’ll probably have to set the tabbing order after you’ve finished adding fields to your form. Here’s how:
1. Click the Pages tab on the Navigation pane to open the Pages palette and select the page containing the form fields you wish to set tabbing order for.
2. Choose Page Properties on the Options menu at the top of the Navigation pane; in the Page Properties dialog box that appears, click the Tab Order tab.
3. Select from the options on the Tab Order tab as follows:
4. Click the Close button to set your new tab order.
1. Click the Pages tab on the Navigation pane to open the Pages palette and select the page containing the form fields you wish to set tabbing order for.
2. Choose Page Properties on the Options menu at the top of the Navigation pane; in the Page Properties dialog box that appears, click the Tab Order tab.
3. Select from the options on the Tab Order tab as follows:
- Select the Use Row Order radio button to tab through rows from top to bottom and right to left.
- Select the Use Column Order radio button to tab through columns from left to right and top to bottom.
- Select the Use Document Structure radio button to use the document structure tree in a tagged PDF document.
- Select the Unspecified radio button (for compatibility with earlier versions of Acrobat) to tab through rows first and annotations second. This option is chosen by default for documents created in Acrobat 4 and earlier.
4. Click the Close button to set your new tab order.
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