Comments on: Fighting Homelessness in Fairfax County

By: Don

Don — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:49:35 +0000

And now we have a discussion about the discussion!

By: Dawn

Dawn — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 19:42:08 +0000

Too bad the only discussion was about PDFs and not actually about the problem at hand. Which probably explains the broader approach to the issue as well.

By: Don

Don — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 14:57:47 +0000

I try to put indicators but for my own satisfaction I use the excellent Firefox Extention TargetAlert. I get a hover icon for PDFs and other specialized link types. It also indicates when a link is going to open a new window/tab.

By: Carl Weaver

Carl Weaver — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:56:07 +0000

I will check that out. Thanks for the link. And yeah – PDF is not a good format for browsing, obviously, but it is great for document delivery and distribution. You’d think something like that above link would be in HTML. Oh, well.

I had no idea how many people hated PDFs or were that upset about them. I will try to make note of that for future posts.

By: PSolus

PSolus — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 04:18:45 +0000

Among other things, it’s a “jarring user experience;” Jakob can express it much better that I can: go to http://www.useit.com and search for “pdf”.

Here’s an example: PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption

By: Carl Weaver

Carl Weaver — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 03:51:44 +0000

True, Psolus. That’s easy to do. But tell me – why does it matter that it’s a PDF?

By: PSolus

PSolus — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 02:51:29 +0000

That is true, Carl, but inserting something along the lines of (PDF) following the anchor text is still a very good idea.

By: Carl Weaver

Carl Weaver — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:09:09 +0000

The indication is the link that shows at the bottom of your browser when you float the mouse cursor over the URL.

By: IHatePDFs

IHatePDFs — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:00:40 +0000

Please make some sort of indication when linking to PDF files. Thanks.