PDFs: 

The Dos and Don’ts
Web Communications
 PDFs are for printing
PDFs are for printing
• Users prefer to print 
documents that are too 
long to read online.
• No matter how tempting 
it might be, you should 
never use PDF for 
PDF f
content that you expect 
users to read online
users to read online.
Source: Jakob Neilsen, “PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption”
An Example: Do This
An Example: Do This
An Example: Don’tt Do This
An Example: Don Do This
An Example: Don’tt Do This
An Example: Don Do This

http://www.loyno.edu/news/story/2012/1/13/2705
PDFs are NOT searchable 
on the Loyola website
h l b
• We’ve hidden all PDFs from 
the spiders used by Google 
and other search engines to 
catalog our website to avoid 
clutter.
An Example: Do This
An Example: Do This
Jarring user experience
Jarring user experience

Source: Jakob Neilsen, 
“PDF: Unfit for Human 
Consumption”
 Orphaned location
Orphaned location

Source: Jakob Neilsen, “PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption”
 Crashes and software problems
Crashes and software problems

Source: Jakob Neilsen, “PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption”
 Breaks flow
Breaks flow

Source: Jakob Neilsen, “PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption”
 Content blob
Content blob

Source: Jakob Neilsen, “PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption”
Text fits the printed page, not a computer screen

Source: Jakob Neilsen, “PDF: Unfit for Human Consumption”
 Guidelines for using PDFs
Guidelines for using PDFs
• Create a gateway HTML page that 
summarizes the PDF file.
• State clearly that the PDF file is for printing 
State clearly that the PDF file is for printing
only and present the same content on other 
web pages in traditional formats.
web pages in traditional formats.
• From any other part of the website, link only 
to the gateway page not to the PDF
to the gateway page, not to the PDF 
document.
No surprises. Use contextual links.
No surprises. Use contextual links.
• If a link is taking you to something other than 
a web page, you have to tell your user.

Source: “PDF files are not HTML substitutes,” www.webpagesthatsuck.com
Forms
 Your intranet
Your intranet
• Annual Reports
• Employee Handbooks
• Strategic Plans
Strategic Plans
• Meeting Minutes
 Naming PDFs
Naming PDFs
• All file attachment names should be 
lowercase.
• All file attachment names should include 
All file attachment names should include
loyola‐university‐new‐orleans in the file name 
followed by the name of your file
followed by the name of your file 
loyola‐university‐new‐orleans‐crystal‐vaccaro.jpg
loyola‐university‐new‐orleans‐ambassador.jpg
y y jpg
loyola‐university‐new‐orleans‐student‐handbook.pdf
 When in doubt, don’tt do it
When in doubt, don do it
• If
If you
you’re
re not sure if a piece of content would 
not sure if a piece of content would
be best as a PDF or a web page, err on the 
side of creating a web page instead of PDF
side of creating a web page instead of PDF.
• The reason: you want your content to be 
searchable
Thank you!
Thank you!