I am no fan of PDFs as a way to display content online. They are usually the last resort of persnickety print designers who can’t stand the control they lose on the web. As a way to print out content, PDFs have some advantage (even if they are still a pain in the butt) — and that’s why Guardian Unlimited just announced a plan to produce constantly updated PDF editions intended to be printed and taken on the train or to the lunch table. Note that this is not the print edition; it’s a digital product that’s supposed to be updated every 15 minutes. They’ll be sponsored by British Telecom. And yes, there’s plenty of irony in this: from paper to digital to paper. I suppose it saves money to make your reader his own pressmen.
One quibble: They’re putting it out in A4 size; I hope that works with American printer trays. LATER: Shawn in the comments tells me (about 10 seconds after the post went up) that Adobe and Mac Preview will resize to fit. Thanks.
