Amber Reader for Netscape 2.0 -- Adobe's Acrobat Amber Reader allows you to read the common PDF (Portable Document Format) files that are created by Adobe's Acrobat software. In addition to the standard features found in the standalone Acrobat Reader for Windows 3.x client, Amber offers PDF viewing from within the Netscape browser -- plug-in technology at work once again. This freeware reader won't let you create your own PDF files (you'll have to purchase Acrobat for that); however, it will give you the ability to read any PDF file you come across -- don't be too surprised when you find more than a few of these files scattered across the web. As for quality, Adobe Acrobat presentations are often no match for a well-designed HTML document. The fonts, even with Adobe's own PDF files, come across jagged in many cases and are not nearly as easy to read. However, for massive presentations and complex tables, charts, graphs, and the like, PDF files often offer superior readability and manageability as opposed to web documents. And thanks to the Amber reader, PDF files can now make use of hypertext support, allowing you to cruise from site to site within a PDF document just like you would in a web browser. The electronic documentation premise and the reduction of wasteful paper are both ways of the future, and thanks to the Amber Reader, we are one step closer to bringing that future to us today. Overall, while HTML is typically a more attractive and more efficient use of paperless documentation, in the absence of an Internet connection or for massive documents, the Acrobat Amber Reader is indeed a very useful tool for the task. Pros: Easy and free viewing or printing of Adobe's Acrobat PDF files Cons: Doesn't look or function as well as HTML documents on the web New: Highlight server plug-in added; thumbnails, bookmarks, and articles now supported, more Version Reviewed: 3.0 Beta 1 Date of Review: 5/24/96 Reviewer: Forrest Stroud apps conference Main Menu