How do you put sound in a pdf??

[ag5t]

I would like to include a wav or midi file with a pdf, but when I follow the directions from the help file, it tells me "this is not a video" file. We have decided to stop printing paper newsletters where I work and put everything online - so we could have sound and interactivity. I can either continue to compose the newsletter in PageMaker and then convert to pdf - or I could compose everything as an html file with FrontPage. I'm looking for any suggestions. Thanks.

 

[Eggles]

I have never heard of a PDF incoporating sounds. Perhaps it isn't possible? Probably your newsletter would be better converted to HTML as it will load faster - BUT of course you will not be able to retain the original formatting. And it is not worth trying to convert a pagemaker file to HTML - yuk.

 

[ag5t]

I have switched to designing the newsletter in html. Much easier to add sound, links, etc. I use FrontPage to design. The hardest part is formatting everything so the pages break that people can print them out as 8 1/2 x 11. I have found that various print previews, print in browsers, etc. are almost all different in alignment. Plus you never know what someone's going to set their display settings at - I design for 800 x 600. After I finish, the newsletter, then I distill pdf files so the newsletter can be e-mailed. Thanks.

 

[jimoblak]

FYI - PDF can do audio & video. I did this a while back with PageMaker and placing .MOV files to make an interactive portfolio. The user's computer must have QT installed to use. I was on the Mac platform at that time and did not consider if this was possible with Windows AVI/WAV formats.

I would recommend abandoning PageMaker and doing design directly in a HTML design application. While PDF is great, most users handle plain HTML best.

 

[Eggles]

ag5t - there is NO WAY you will be able to ensure all readers of your HTML newsletter will have it print out with exactly the same page breaks you want them to have. You CANNOT foresee what printer, margins, paper size, font, and all the other variables that can affect printing your readers will have.

Just do not worry about it.