PDF LINKS

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The web is filled with stuff about PDF and Acrobat. Below are some of my favourites. Drop me a mail if you think I am missing out on the best site of the world. You can also use this as a way of jumping from PDF site to PDF site.

PlanetPDF and the PDFzone are the two leading web sites regarding the use of PDF in a prepress environment (well OK, some folks may say that Adobe also has something to say on the subject.) They both offer guest writers, well written pieces, information on new products and links to other sources of information. German PDF-lovers can also take a look at the German PDF-zone or PDF-Worker.

Ex-journalist and PDF-evangelist Michael Jahn maintains an interesting web site which contains a fascinating mixture of personal and professional PDF-related tidbits.

Creative Pro maintains a nice site if your are interested in prepress related news but their site also contains an PDF preflighting service.

Both PlanetPDF and the PDFzone maintain an extensive list of PDF tools so I am not going to bother doing the same. Here are just the 3 plug-ins every prepress company should have:

Quite Software has some pretty cool Acrobat plug-ins like Quite-A-Box-Of-Tricks, a toolbox that is great for manipulating PDFs coming from Office applications.

Enfocus is a Belgian company that created Pitstop, a plug-in to flightcheck and correct PDF files. It is a nice tool but stay away from any of their .0 releases.

CrackerJack is an Acrobat plug-in to print PDF files to a RIP the prepress way, meaning with crop marks, user defined screen angles and all the other goodies you expect.

Infomania do not really sell PDF related stuff: they are a service bureau. They also run the best mailinglist on "PDF and prepress" there is.

This book by Frank Romanogives a basic overview of the PDF standard, the various Acrobat applications, plug-ins and the use of PDF in a prepress environment and workflow. I have read the second edition which was outdated even right after it became available. There is now a new version which discusses Acrobat 5 as well and which seems to have improved.

This is an excellent book by Thomas Merz describing both PostScript and Acrobat from a practical point of view. Unfortunately it only covers PDF up to version 1.2 (Acrobat 3). An updated revision will appear somewhere in the early 2002. Available in both German and English..