[Sigia-l] RE: Labeling a PDF Archive

[John O'Donovan]

>> Gabriel:
>> Church Publications:
>> - Online Versions
>> - Printable Versions
>> - Handheld Versions

PDF does not neccessarily imply printable to me - it tends to imply
downloadable. For example you could print the online versions as well or
produce a version that is printable (the printer friendly HTML version). But
then you can also print the PDF version and it is good for that purpose...

[jod argues with himself for a while]

As you say Jeff, it is likely that it is the terminology PDF that is
confusing them. I would perhaps move towards being more task basked, EG:

Church Publications:
- View Archive Online
- Download and Print (PDF)
- Download to Handheld (PDA)

Ultimately, to help users you really need to say what it is the PDFs are and
that they need a plugin to view them, so you might describe the PDF library
as:

"View the archive of magazines which you can download to your computer" or

"View the archive of magazines which you can download to your computer and
easily print" or:

"View the archive of magazines which you can download to keep on your
computer in PDF format"

But this assumes they know what a PDF is. If not, you need to tell them -
which you do on the next page, but not before they click the link.

The killer is that many internet users do know what a PDF is and you don't
need all this explanation. It is also likely that none of the above are
practical for your site.

Something to consider is that few things confuse a user like a missing
plugin and it is possible your audience demographic has a large proportion
of people who don't have Acrobat and are not "widely learned" internet
users.

Cognitively it is worth considering the term PDF as a link - when I click a
link titled PDF I often expect this link to start downloading a PDF
straightaway, so your audience may also be tentative about clicking it.

Just thoughts...

Cheers,

jod