Internet Basics: A PDF is Like a Fossil

By Grant Pasay

Ever see a fossil? We're talking about seeing a moment from the ancient past, frozen in time, exactly as it was back then. How was the fossil made? Years of mud and gunk piling on top of it? A flash flood? A volcano erupting? It doesn't really matter, because you have that perfect representation of what was going on back then - you have that fossil.

That's what a PDF is like.

PDF stands for Portable Document File. And when they say the document is "portable," they mean it can be passed around from person to person, just like a fossil, and it doesn't change. That means no matter who looked at that file, it would always look the same.

And just like the fossil, it doesn't matter how the Portable Document File was originally made, it will still look the same. Say, for example, someone made a document in the software program called Word, and then tried to pass it around to others. First of all, the others would have to have the Word program (and maybe even the right version of Word) to view the document. Second, if the others didn't have the same fonts, the document would look different right there.

But if that same document was turned into a PDF, the others could open it whether or not they had Word.

The only catch is this: to turn a document into a PDF, the document's creator would also need a piece of software called Adobe Acrobat (or some other software that creates PDFs). You have to buy this software.

And to view a PDF, you need a piece of software called Adobe Acrobat Reader. Fortunately, Acrobat Reader is FREE, and can be downloaded at the Adobe website:

* http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html

PDFs are great for the Internet, because they let people and businesses save their files in a format that they know won't get all messed up when opened by the target audience. Better yet, Acrobat Reader can open PDFs saved on a computer (in this case, Acrobat Reader opens as a stand-alone software program) or Acrobat Reader can open PDFs downloaded by a browser (in this case, Acrobat Reader is acting as a plug-in).

And since PDFs and Acrobat Reader are pretty well known, lots of people already know what's up when a PDF floats their way.

And that's why a PDF is like a fossil.

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