SAN JOSE (djc) – Adobe Systems Inc. has released version 5 of its Acrobat document-publishing software. The new release includes features that facilitate the exchange of documents and other information between users, as well as between different media, such as print and the Web.
As with earlier versions, the software allows users to produce documents as Portable Document Format (PDF) files, which can be viewed onscreen or printed precisely as they were created, with layout, fonts, links, and images intact, even if the person viewing them does not have the software that created the original document.
But PDF files in the past have been static graphical files, able to be viewed and printed but not changed. Acrobat 5 changes this. The files it creates can be used as an electronic form that can be filled out by the recipient, for example, and that can even dynamically modify themselves, depending on the answers the recipient provides. Thus if the respondent indicates that he has children, the form could ask for their names and ages; respondents who said they did not have children would not see that portion of the form.
The software also supports XML (extensible markup language), widely used for facilitating e-commerce transaction on the Internet. It also can be extended, customized and integrated with other applications through its support for JavaScript and OLE (object linking and embedding) automation.
Digital signatures added via a Web browser can authenticate Acrobat 5 documents. To ensure that only authorized persons read confidential documents, access to Acrobat 5 files can be restricted via a password, using 128-bit encryption.
For graphic arts professionals who have been longtime users of the software, the release adds a number of sophisticated new controls and options that can speed the production of printed materials.
It also eliminates several costly and time-consuming processes required to produce materials for advertising, brochures and similar purposes.
