Doc Searls started a little tempest re PDFs and Changethis.com The Doc Searls Weblog : Tuesday, November 30, 2004.

Basically, he says that PDFs are not all that great compared to HTML and ChangeThis ought to offer its manifestos in web-friendly format.

We got some mail on this as well.

I hear you. But I think the comparison is not apt. The right comparison is to compare our PDFs to books.

Books are not searchable. They cost money to reproduce. You can’t print multiple copies and Google searches them even less well than they search PDFs.

You don’t hear anyone whining about books. You don’t hear about anyone sending long, detailed emails to book publishers explaining why they should abandon printed books and start publishing in HTML.

Anyway, we use PDFs because they’re a lot more booklike. They read better. They stick together when you forward them. They print better.

I know they’re not in HTML. There are 6 trillion other web pages to choose from if you want that.

Thanks for your feedback! Keep the cards and letters coming.