That way if someone wants a PDF of the schedule, they just need a free PDF printer (such as PDFCreator), and generate their own PDFs.

Stick to HTML for viwing online and use PDF for printing.

You can convert most documents to PDF without any loss of formatting. That’s not always true with HTML.

I think PDF is wonderful for prepress applications. That’s what the format was invented for, and it was a time-saver for printers and a money-saver for clients.

On the Web, though, PDF is overused by computer-illiterate Web publishers. In many cases, the integrity of paper presentation is not necessary for electronic communication — or would be inappropriate for the Web.

Bus and train schedules fall under this category. Electronic data is far more robust to present schedules. A skilled webmaster can build a schedule where you can customize stops that you need or filter out branch lines from a trunk that don’t go where you need to go.

That involves databases, but it could also be done with active server pages or similar technologies. And if you have someone with those chops, pulling timetable data out of scheduling software and converting it to HTML text is a cinch. They should also learn how to build a template to get schedules to fit on 8.5″ x 11″ paper. As Fred said, all it takes is knowledge of HTML and CSS.

This is my penalty against PDF schedules. Anytime I see one, I assume the person or department entrusted to create Web communication is too lazy and/or incompetent to code schedules into text.

Metrolink offers HTML and PDF schedules… and I have never once opted to check out the PDF schedule. HTML and CSS can be configured to print beautifully, can be changed by agencies quickly, can be viewed by any browser, allow you to copy paste the information you might need, can be easily linked, are far more lightweight, this list goes on and on.

PDF = bad bad bad

PDF sucks!!!!!!!

When agencies, such as AC Transit, use lame electronic algorithms to generate PDF schedules without maps, or Trimet with their schedules for one direction one day only schedules so they don’t take business away from selling their transit guide, that turns me off big time. When I was in Seattle, it was impossible to download individual schedules to my friend’s laptop and plan trips that way. Instead, we had to waste paper and grab paper schedules for the trips we planned to take. Modern smartphones can access PDF schedules just fine, and of course there are PDF screenreaders, so the accessibility issue is mute. The other common complaint of large PDF file size has to do primarily with poor use of the options available to compress file size when the file is distilled. If an agency were to put up any kind of schedule, they should put up the PDF schedule FIRST, with other formats later. So Wad, I think you are in the minority here.