batch conversion to pdf

[cdcox at UALBERTA.CA]

On Tue, Oct 26, 2010 at 6:20 PM, Aidan Wilson  
<a.wilson at pgrad.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:

(SNIP)
> Adobe, by contrast, have released .pdf as an open standard format, making it
> quite reliable for archive.

It might also be worth adding a quick reference to some of the  
different variants of the PDF standard out there, some of which might  
be more 'archive-friendly' than others.  In particular, PDF/A defines  
a subset of the PDF standard that's intended to support long-term  
accessibility, forcing some features to be present (e.g. all fonts  
must be embedded in the PDF itself) and others features to be absent  
(e.g. no JavaScript, embedded multimedia, transparent images, or  
encryption) in compliant documents.  See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/A
http://www.digitalpreservation.gov/formats/fdd/fdd000125.shtml

Hope this helps,


-- 
Christopher Cox
christopher.cox at ualberta.ca