PDF is initials for Portable Document Format. It is the file format used by Adobe.com's software which is called Adobe Acrobat. If you download a free copy of Adobe Reader you will be able to view PDF files at any Web site. (NOTE: Even if you do not wish to download the free Adobe Reader, be aware that there is a wealth of PDF file information at the home site for Adobe Acrobat. I created a test PDF document. If you have the current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader, test it now by double clicking on the Test PDF File. What is the answer to the question at the bottom of the test pdf file page?

Typically, PDF files are cross-platform and may be viewed just as well from UNIX, MacIntosh, or PC Computers running Windows 95/98/NT/2000/ME/XP and having a current version of Adobe Acrobat Reader. These PDF files are created in Adobe's software package called Adobe Acrobat. Acrobat Distiller is a portion of Acrobat and is capable of changing PostScript files into PDF files quickly and easily. Acrobat PDF Writer is the print driver that makes PDF files within any application. It is part of Acrobat. You may create a PDF file using the PDF Writer driver. Acrobat Capture is a plug-in which allows scanned images to be converted on the fly to PDF documents. There are many features for editing a document using Acrobat, perhaps even more features than a Word processing program.

Some Web Servers will need special upgrades to handle byte-serving of PDF Files, which allows a user to only download the needed pages from larger documents such as handbooks, reports, user guides and the PDF document itself has to be specially optimized when the file is first saved or the download will not work properly. Adobe has online user guides to assist with learning the software. Shorter documents that do not need to allow the user to download one page at a time, do not need byte-serving of the PDF file from the server. In this case, the PDF File should NOT be Optimized when saved. If you do not know the capability of your Web host's server for byte-serving the PDF files, contact your Web host tech support or your ISP tech. support, or go the to Adobe
 
See: Configuring Netscape Navigator for Windows to Display PDF Files

To insert a PDF file into your HTML document, simply code:
<A HREF="filename.pdf">Name of PDF File Here</A>
and insert this code where you want to place your link to the PDF file, substituting the real name of your PDF file in place of filename.pdf. Where I wrote "Name of PDF File here" you should either describe or name your pdf file. Again, the code is placed into your HTML document code wherever you wish the link to the PDF document to appear. Let your readers know that they will need a free copy of Adobe Reader and supply the link to the download site at Adobe.Com.

The Adobe Web Authoring tool is GoLive. You will be impressed at the list of products available at Adobe.Com in categories for Web, Motion, Digital Imaging, Third-party plug-ins, Print, ePaper, and Type.