Many PDF readers will make obvious links (such as www.macosxhints.com and someone@example.org) clickable. But for non-trivial links (like Mac OS X Hints), the PDF reader needs additional information to know what to refer to. Since Leopard, apparently, many Apple programs support creating clickable PDFs simply by using the PDF button in the Print dialog. So this is nothing new, but many people do not seem to be aware of this, so this might be worth a hint of its own.
Many non-Apple programs still depend on other methods. For example: this earlier hint explained that OpenOffice.org does not create clickable PDFs unless one explicitely uses the built-in Export to PDF function. Using the latter, one can click the table of contents to jump to some specific page, or click links to open a browser for an external web site.
As for web browsers, both Apple's Safari and the non-Apple OmniWeb (a free download since February 25th), create such clickable PDFs. Bottom line: simply choose File » Print, click the PDF button, and then select Save as PDF to create a PDF with clickable links. Or, if you don't want clickable links, then create the PDF using, for example, Firefox.
And web developers, please create nice CSS media="print" stylesheets!
Many non-Apple programs still depend on other methods. For example: this earlier hint explained that OpenOffice.org does not create clickable PDFs unless one explicitely uses the built-in Export to PDF function. Using the latter, one can click the table of contents to jump to some specific page, or click links to open a browser for an external web site.
As for web browsers, both Apple's Safari and the non-Apple OmniWeb (a free download since February 25th), create such clickable PDFs. Bottom line: simply choose File » Print, click the PDF button, and then select Save as PDF to create a PDF with clickable links. Or, if you don't want clickable links, then create the PDF using, for example, Firefox.
And web developers, please create nice CSS media="print" stylesheets!
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