Preparing PDF, Word and other documents
Best practice for preparing downloadable documents for the Media Library.
Webteam will assist you whenever possible in creating images for Web, and text generated in HTML format via the T4 editor. For content that has already been created and formatted using another application, this is not always practical. In these cases, a downloadable document can be published instead.
File Types
The main downloadable document file types in use on UHI One-Web sites are:
- Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) with file extension .pdf
- Microsoft Word with file extensions .doc or .docx
Before final saving, it's important to name your downloadable document files sensibly and remember DOC and PDF Titles.
Adobe PDF
The standard for downloadable mixed text and image documents on the Web.
PDF is an ISO standard format for document sharing, supported by the majority of desktop and mobile web browsers.
Always try to prepare documents in PDF format, even if this is in addition to another document format.
PDF documents can be read in any compatible desktop or mobile viewer. The current Adobe Acrobat Reader DC can be downloaded here for desktop.
Microsoft Word
A common formatted text file type, which can also include embedded images.
Microsoft Word is another common format for document sharing. Word documents can be read in the freely-available Word mobile app, in OneDrive or Dropbox, or in any other compatible software. Word is now generally supplied as part of a Microsoft Office 365 subscription.
Bear in mind that Word is paid-for software and much of your intended audience may not have access to either a Word editor or reader.
Always try to prepare documents in PDF format, even if this is in addition to a Word version. Documents can easily be saved (or exported) in PDF format from Word.
