"PDF Hacks" Released by O'Reilly

For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or an interview with
the author, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7094 or kathrynb@oreilly.com
	
More Than Electronic Paper
O'Reilly Releases "PDF Hacks"

Sebastopol, CA--To most of the world, PDF stands for that rather tiresome
format used for documents downloaded from the web. With a reputation for
being slow to load and slower to print, hopelessly unsearchable, and all
but impossible to cut and paste from, the Portable Document Format doesn't
inspire much affection in the average user. But PDF done right is another
story. Those who know the ins and outs of this format know that it can be
much more than electronic paper. "PDF Hacks" (O'Reilly, US $24.95) by Sid
Steward shows readers how to use a variety of PDF tools--not just Adobe
Acrobat--to create, rearrange, customize, and present information as PDF.

"Most books about PDF are really books about Adobe Acrobat, so they are
confined to solving all PDF problems using a single, expensive tool,"
explains Steward. "Meanwhile, people have been developing various tools
and libraries for making PDF do exactly what they needed.  I wanted to
write a book that addressed common PDF problems by dipping into the entire
pool of available tools and techniques.  I especially wanted to leverage
free --as in 'freedom'--software."

"PDF Hacks" unveils the true promise of Portable Document Format, going
way beyond the usual PDF as paged output mechanism. Steward draws from his
years of analyzing, extending, authoring, and embellishing PDF documents
to present 100 clever hacks--tools, tips, quick-and-dirty or not-so-obvious
solutions to common problems. The hacks cover the full range of PDF
functionality, from the simple to the more complex. Readers will learn how to
manage content in PDF, navigate it, and reuse it as necessary.

"We're beginning to see PDF closely integrated with programs such as Adobe
Illustrator or OpenOffice.org and with operating systems such as Mac OS
X," Steward notes.  "Thanks to Adobe's open PDF specification and various
free software projects, PDF has begun to spread widely.  As PDF spreads,
common questions become more pressing: 'How do I copy a table of data from
a PDF page?'  And: 'What is the best way to integrate PDF with our web
site?'  And: 'What do we do now, with all of these PDFs in our archive?'
'PDF Hacks' tackles these questions using newly available programs and
techniques."

Ideal for anyone who works with PDF on a regular basis, including web
developers, pre-press users, forms creators, and those who generate PDF
for distribution, "PDF Hacks" demonstrates how to:

-Customize PDF viewers to make reading PDF more comfortable
-Create PDF files with a variety of tools on a number of platforms
-Build PDFs with sophisticated navigation and interactive features
-Integrate PDF files with web sites beyond a simple hyperlink
-Collect data on your web site with PDF forms
-Convert incoming faxes to PDF
-Write scripts that control Acrobat

With the right tools, PDF is flexible, compact, interactive, and even
searchable; it's the ideal way to present content across multiple
platforms. "PDF Hacks" provides resources that anyone can use to create
PDF files that offer a richer, more powerful experience.

Additional Resources:

Several sample hacks, including "Bookmark PDF Pages in Reader," "Convert
Documents from Tools You Don't Own to PDF," and "Use Perl to Create PDF,"
are available online at:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pdfhks/chapter/index.html

For more information about the book, including table of contents, index,
author bio, and samples, see:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pdfhks/

For a cover graphic in JPEG format, go to:
ftp://ftp/ora.com/pub/graphics/book_covers/hi-res/0596006...

PDF Hacks
Sid Steward
ISBN 0-596-00655-1, 277 pages, $34.95 US, $50.95 CA
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000
http://www.oreilly.com

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