How to read ISO publications about PDF
ISO standards are not tailored to their domain; the same set of rules applies to all ISO standards, regardless of industry or subject.
For those unfamiliar with “ISO-ese” nuances are easily overlooked, which can result in malformed files, erroneous implementations, and problems with interoperability.
Many sentences in ISO-standardized PDF specifications are carefully crafted in an attempt to accurately communicate a very specific meaning. These nuances may be difficult to recognize if the reader does not have a good understanding of how ISO standards are written.
It is therefore important that developers engaging with ISO standards – especially those developers for whom English is not a primary language – understand how to interpret “ISO-ese”.
This article provides some basic information about ISO’s language and offers a short list of things to remember when reviewing ISO standards for PDF.
DARPA recognizes the PDF Association’s contributions to SafeDocs
DARPA recognizes the PDF Association’s contributions to its SafeDocs program.
December 2022 by PDF Association staff (PDF Association)
Adobe releases the source code for an early version of PostScript, the forerunner of PDF.
October 2022 by PDF Association staff (PDF Association)
In a new podcast episode, SE Radio’s Gavin Henry interviews PDF Association CTO Wyatt and CEO Johnson about a wide … Read more
February 2021 by PDF Association staff (PDF Association)
A recent article on Medium reveals a nugget regarding PDF usage: “…Adobe reports that in its 2020 fiscal year alone, … Read more
