Popular PDF myths:

1. PDFs prevent copying and plagiarism
2. PDFs can’t be modified
3. PDFs ensure people see the document as formatted
4. PDFs are accessible
5. PDFs are preferred for the web

PDFs prevent copying and plagiarism

Copying and printing can only be blocked if you use the advanced features in the full or professional version of Adobe Acrobat (not the free Acrobat Reader).

If you do not "lock" a PDF in this way:

• users can choose the "Save as text" option in Acrobat
• text can easily be copied and pasted
  
• there are plenty of PDF to text converters available and web-based utilities
• Google will also do it - for example, "File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML".

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PDFs can’t be modified

PDFs can be modified - for example, when dealing with paper-based forms you can:

• print, complete and return
• print, scan, modify, print, complete and return
• extract, modify, print, complete and return.

Could an online form be used?

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PDFs ensure people see the document as formatted

These examples prove what a myth this really is:

• Googled!
• P(P)DF
• portable devices
• people with vision impairment.

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PDFs are accessible

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission:

"Based on the best advice available, and the results of its own evaluation, the Commission is compelled to conclude that none of the screen-readers currently available on the Australian market support all the accessibility features that are defined in the PDF specification, or even all of those features that would be reasonably considered essential for an equal and independent user experience interacting with PDF documents."

"The Commission’s advice, current October 2010, is therefore that PDF cannot be regarded as a sufficiently accessible format to provide a user experience for a person with a disability that is equivalent to that available to a person without a disability, and which is also equivalent to that obtained from using the document marked up in traditional HTML."

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission: "...organisations that publish documents only in PDF risk complaint under the DDA [Disability Discrimination Act] unless they make the content available in at least one additional format and in a manner that incorporates principles of accessible document design. Additional formats should be published simultaneously with the PDF version..."

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PDFs are preferred for the web

In reality:

• web browsers read (X)HTML and text
• web browsers require an “add on” to read PDFs
• PDFs are larger
• PDFs take longer to download
• PDFs take longer to render on the screen
• different interface and navigation models
• RTF or text is acceptable, PDF-only is not.

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