This Section provides an in-depth look at the plug-in Adobe Acrobat Amber. Adobe Acrobat Amber is a reader for .pdf files (portable document files). PDF files or portable document files allow the user to view documents in their natural format. PDF files are extremely compact, platform independent, and easy to create. PDF files and The Adobe Acrobat Amber plug-in provides cross-platform access to files that can be viewed and navigated through. Portable document readers like Adobe Acrobat have two main benefits. They ensure design integrity, and they can quickly and inexpensively convert existing files into a format that can be shared across computers. For my analysis of the Adobe Acrobat reader I choose two sites with PDF files available for downloading.
The first site I looked at was Walt Disney World. This site provided a complex map of Walt Disney World Florida. This map can be downloaded and viewed with The Adobe Acrobat reader. The Map contained several pages. It started off with an overview of the area. You could then navigate through and zoom in on areas of interest. This is a fully interactive map. After selecting a park such as Epcot, It is possible to zoom in and navigate along the pathways. Rides, shops, and Attractions were indicated by numbers. When you clicked on the numbers you are taken to a page which describes the chosen item. I found this Media to be extremely helpful. After downloading the map it was very quick to browse through. A map of this size would not work very well as an image on a web site. It would be very slow loading in the colorful images, and much detail would be lost. In this sense I think the PDF file and Acrobat reader provided information and capabilities which can not be displayed in another format which would be readily available to the public.
The second site that I looked at was The New York times. The New York times Provides the TimesFax. This is an eight page document in PDF format that is free and available for downloading daily. The TimesFax presents highlights of New York Times headlines. The TimesFax includes top national, business, international, and sports news. It also contains editorials, commentaries, and the crossword puzzle. The New York Times asks users to register before downloading, but no password is needed. I also found this site to be beneficial. At a time when several newspapers are putting up web sites with abstracted stories this one seems to stand out. The goal of these newspaper sites is to generate new subscribers. The PDF format allows users to view the TimesFax in its original format thus portraying the format of the actual daily paper. I think this would influence readership more than web pages full of abstracts that are confusing to navigate through.
Publishers like Acrobat because it saves the expense of recreating existing documents in HTML. Currently Acrobat is used mainly by Newspapers, magazines, and the government. However it will become more widespread as users become aware of its advantages.