Tonight while working on a proposal I examined a customer’s case study region of their site. The case studies the customer posted were strictly in PDF format with no HTML alternative. When I browse the internet looking for information I’m often miffed when content is put entirely into a PDF.

Usually when I stumble on PDF content it’s by accident and without visual warning that I’m about to download an entire document. Not only does the download clutter my hard drive but it changes the usability experience on the Web site.

As usual, I resorted to a Google search in an effort to find a good study on the pros and cons of strictly PDF content mixed with HTML content. To my surprise I found little to no information about this topic.

So I came up with my own short list.

First the Pros

• Total control of the design
• Document is portable offline
• Can email it to a collegue

That’s it…. now to the Cons

• On PCs the user needs to open Adobe Acrobat. Thank God I have a Mac
• The user-experience has now changed
• Loss of SEO benefits over HTML
• Content often goes stale, while the HTML stays fresh using a CMS
• Another file added to my computer rather then the cache

So, now I ask you good reader, where do you stand?