CertifiedPDF.net

Overview


Enfocus Software is building an online service around its Certified PDF initiative: CertifiedPDF.net. This online service aims to extend the Certified PDF workflow beyond the desktop and improve information exchange within the community of Certified PDF users.

CertifiedPDF.net will allow people in the graphic arts and prepress industries to become members of the online service. These members, consisting of printers, publishers, creative companies, or industry organizations, will be able to:

  • Present their company or organization to a dedicated audience.
  • Publicly clarify which standards, specifications and PDF Profiles they currently require, regardless of whether they are proprietary or industry standards.
  • A notification mechanism will be built into the entire Enfocus product suite that will ensure that all users of the site are notified when these specifications are updated or modified. This will solve a major present-day problem in the industry, as everyone will be informed of changes to the specification they are using.

For the regular visitor to the site, other resources will be available than only these specifications and member pages:

  • A database of tips, solutions to recurring problems and other useful resources making work easier for Certified PDF users.
  • A forum that enables all the players in the Certified PDF initiative to communicate and exchange information.

 

The Certified PDF Initiative, Past and Present


1. Why Certified PDF


Certified PDF is a PDF workflow technology developed by Enfocus Software, based on industry needs and customer requests. The Certified PDF technology was designed to address three fundamental issues facing the majority of users implementing a PDF workflow:

  1. How to guarantee that a PDF document was successfully preflighted with a specific PDF Profile.
  2. How to maintain consistency between the source document(s) and the PDF document when changes can be applied to the PDF document throughout the workflow.
  3. How to minimize risk and responsibility when changing a customer’s PDF document before final output.

Certified PDF is an essential technology especially in the area of inter-company file exchange. Enfocus Certified PDF adds significant reliability and predictability to inter-company PDF workflows. Document creators can easily create correct PDFs or PDF files and record the status into the PDF file. Document receivers get immediate feedback on the document preflight status, eliminating the need for repeated preflighting.

Enfocus Certified PDF is rapidly becoming the standard in the graphic arts industry. More and more PDF standards and specifications are published as PDF Profiles. There is a tendency today among a growing number of publishing houses to only accept Certified PDF documents.



2. PDF Profiles, specifications and standards


The Certified PDF workflow introduced some new concepts:

  • PDF Profiles contain a set of very specific criteria which are checked during preflighting. When a document has been preflighted with a PDF Profile, it can be Certified.
  • Various organizations have published specifications. A specification defines the requirements to which PDF documents must comply before they can be Certified. A specification can include PDF Profiles, Action Lists, PPDs for use in QuarkXPress, InDesign Print Styles, and documentation relevant to the specification.
  • The Ghent PDF Workgroup, a union of thirteen industry associations from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Danmark, Italy ,Switzerland, and the U.S., is currently developing quality specifications for the graphic industries that can be used worldwide . These standards will be published in a reference implementation, using Enfocus Certified PDF Profiles.



3. The workflow


Before a document can be exchanged, for example, between the content creator in an advertising agency and the prepress operator in a printing house, it needs to be Certified:

  • The document creator starts the Certified PDF workflow.
  • The document is automatically preflighted with a specific PDF Profile.
  • If the document contains no errors, it is a Certified PDF. The content creator sends the document to the printing house.
  • The prepress operator checks whether the document is a Certified PDF document. Seeing that it is, they can, if required, make last minute changes.
  • If the prepress operator made any last minute changes, the document is preflighted and saved once more to ensure that it conforms to the PDF Profile. It can now be safely printed.

 

New Challenges



1. Beyond Certified PDF


Since its introduction by Enfocus Software, Certified PDF was immediately embraced in the graphic arts market and has continued to be implemented at a very rapid rate.
With the proliferation of different versions of PDF specifications and standards issued by different organizations, a number of new issues have arisen:

  • Document creators and receivers are using PDF Profiles to certify their PDF documents, but are they using the correct profiles for their specific situation?
  • How can printers and publishers effectively share their specifications with designers and operators regardless of whether these specifications comply with certain standards, or are proprietary?
  • Which PDF Profiles are available, who created them, and to what purpose?
  • Users have to continuously find solutions to their PDF problems. A repository for solutions could reduce frustration and save many users time and that crucial ingredient, money.

Enfocus Software believes that providing a better means of communication and interaction between the different players will be the key to successfully addressing these issues.


2. CertifiedPDF.net


Determined to take the Certified PDF initiative to the next level of efficiency, Enfocus Software created the CertifiedPDF.net site, extending the Certified PDF concept outside of the software application sphere.
The goal is to create an online service driven by a community of Certified PDF users who can exchange information and PDF Profiles, making the exchange of PDF documents easier and more reliable for all parties.
Ultimately, it will improve overall communication between all those involved in digital data exchange in the graphic arts and prepress industries.

 

Introducing CertifiedPDF.net
1. Components of the online service


The CertifiedPDF.net Web site will feature four main components:

  1. Specifications: the site will feature a database containing all the settings needed to create and check PDF documents for publication. The user-friendly specification management system will allow users to retrieve specifications from specific printers and for specific media, etc.
  2. Community: the site will provide information on the companies in the Certified PDF arena. All those involved will be invited to create a page on CertifiedPDF.net (vendors, publishers, printers, designers and industry associations/organizations, etc.).
  3. Resources: the site will provide current news from the graphic and printing industries, the latest PDF developments, and information about CertifiedPDF.net itself. Additionally, it will be a source of help, tips, and knowledge on the subject of Certified PDF.
  4. Interaction: visitors to the site will be able to share knowledge, ideas, experience and comments.

2. Key concepts: roles


CertifiedPDF.net online service will be highly interactive. Therefore it is important to distinguish among the three types of site guests:

  1. Visitors: anyone who visits the site without registering as either a user or a member.
  2. Contributing Members (Contributors): anyone who registers with CertifiedPDF.net for the purpose of publishing information such as specifications and creating a page presenting the company.
  3. Subscribing Members (Subscribers): anyone who registers with CertifiedPDF.net for the purpose of subscribing to specifications and retrieving information (help on Certified PDF and specific PDF Profiles, etc.).

 

Specifications on CertifiedPDF.net


1. Publishing specifications

Contributors to CertifiedPDF.net will be able to publish their specifications on the website. This allows organizations and companies to clearly indicate the specifications to which PDF documents they exchange must comply.
For example, a printing or publishing house might upload its PDF Profiles and related documents or files to the CertifiedPDF.net site in the form of several different specifications.


2. Finding specifications


For the subscribers of the CertifiedPDF.net online service, the Search function will be a significant feature. Subscribers will be able to search for a particular specification by:

  • Company name
  • Market segment (e.g. Advertising Delivery Newspapers, Book Printing, etc.)
  • Production category (e.g. Web Offset, Screen Printing, etc.)
  • Region in which the specification is used (e.g. North America, France, etc.)
  • Standard from which the specification is derived (e.g. PDF/X-1a:2001)
  • Color space (e.g., CMYK)
  • Resolution

Once the subscriber has found the desired specification, they will be able to:

  • Download and install all its files (PDF Profiles, Action Lists, PPDs, Acrobat Distiller Job Options, QuarkXPress Print Styles, InDesign Print Styles, etc.)
  • Subscribe to that specification to ensure that the latest version is always being used.


3. Notification mechanism


The issues outlined earlier in “Beyond Certified PDF” can be resolved by implementing a notification mechanism. This mechanism, featured in all Enfocus Software products, ensures that all parties involved in a document exchange use the same version of a particular specification.
CertifiedPDF.net introduces this mechanism by sending an update notification to all subscribers to a specification whenever it is changed. These notification messages will prompt the subscribing member to update his local version of the specification (i.e., the PDF Profiles and any other files used).

 

 

Resources on CertifiedPDF.net


1. Types of resources


The Resources section will contain various resources for the PDF community:

  • Basics gives information on Certified PDF and CertifiedPDF.net and how it works and their role in the graphic arts and prepress industries.
  • Workflows describes how to implement a Certified PDF Workflows in specific situations.
  • PDF & PDF Standards explains the background of PDF standardization processes and the difference between standards and specifications.
  • Help assists the Certified PDF user with a database of solutions to commonly encountered problems in PDF files.


2. Help database


The CertifiedPDF.net Help system will include two main parts:

  1. An overview on how to implement a Certified PDF workflow in a given environment.
  2. A database containing solutions for problems that may come about during the preflighting of PDF documents.

The solutions database will contain the error and warning messages that appear in preflight reports, allowing the user to quickly find a solution to a specific problem in a document.



3. Solutions


The Solutions section shows the user how to:

  • Solve the problem in the PDF document, if possible.
  • Avoid the problem by going back to the source applications (e.g., QuarkXPress, InDesign, Photoshop) or the Acrobat Distiller Job Options.

The Resources section on CertifiedPDF.net will become invaluable for anyone dealing with Certified PDF documents and preflight reports.

 

Community and Feedback on CertifiedPDF.net


1. Interactivity


The two remaining sections of the CertifiedPDF.net site will attend to the improving of communication between all those involved in Certified PDF:

  • Community
  • Feedback


2. The Community


The Community section on CertifiedPDF.net will collect data on all the organizations, businesses, and people that work with Certified PDF.
These will be the contributing members of the CertifiedPDF.net site, and will include software vendors, printers, publishers, creators, trainers and consultants, resellers and industry organizations.
Members will have different reasons for creating a page on the CertifiedPDF.net community:

  • Presenting their company, organization and services to a large audience that is directly concerned with the Certified PDF initiative.
  • Publicly stating their support of Certified PDF.
  • Publishing the specifications with which they work.
  • Presenting Certified PDF software (other than that offered by Enfocus Software).


3. The Feedback section

Finally, the online service will also feature one or more forums that will be used to discuss issues related to Certified PDF.
Contributors and subscribers can use these forums to interact and exchange knowledge and tips.
This section will be added to the service offer at a later stage.

 

Conclusions


1. Meeting the needs


CertifiedPDF.net will respond to several current demands that exist in the Certified PDF community:

  • The Specifications section will make sure that all parties can easily retrieve the latest version of, and all the information on, a set of requirements used by a specific organization or business.
  • The Community section offers vendors and companies a unique opportunity to make themselves known in the Certified PDF community, and indicate which specifications they use.
  • The Resources section will provide a valuable source of knowledge, tips and practical guidelines for document creators and recipients.
  • The Feedback section will fill the communication and information exchange gap.