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Adobe Web Tech Curriculum

Unit 6: Hyperlinks, Lists, and CSS

Lesson 6.1: Acrobat Basics 1

Introduction to Acrobat Reader

What would you do if you spent hours or even days working on a project in a specific computer application only to find out that the person evaluating the project doesn't have access to that application? This used to be a major problem for people who needed to share electronic files, but Adobe Acrobat has come to the rescue!

Acrobat is an application that can capture an electronic document and prepare in a way that allows almost any computer to view it. For example, you can create an electronic document in a computer program that your teacher doesn't have access to and save it as an Acrobat PDF file. PDF stands for "Portable Document Format," i.e., the format is portable from system to system, regardless of software or hardware differences. Your teacher will be able to open a PDF file, view your paper exactly as you created it, and see all the hard work that went into it. Another example directly relates to the projects you are creating in this course. Your web team has been creating its client's design document in InDesign, a high-level professional layout program. The design document can be saved in a PDF format from within InDesign and sent to the client team via e-mail rather than having to meet each time a new section of the document is ready for review.

Acrobat is especially important for businesses, because it provides an easy way for businesses to share a vast amount of information with their clients. More and more websites are providing information in PDF format. For instance, most colleges have their schedules, catalogs, and even applications online and downloadable in PDF format.

To view a PDF file, all you have to have is the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. The Acrobat Reader can be easily downloaded from the Adobe website (http://www.adobe.com). Navigate to the Acrobat Reader download page and follow the steps provided to download and install it. In most cases, websites that distribute information through PDF files also provide a link to download the Acrobat Reader; to do so is considered good usability and accessibility practice.