How should you display links to PDF files?

Posted Comments

There are 9 Comments

April 28, 2010 | Cormac wrote:

From an accessibility point of view the 'PDF' should be included in the link anchor text. Some accessibility advocates also recommend the file size and 'Opens in New Window' is also included in the anchor text - this is for the benefit of vision impaired users using screen readers such as JAWS. 

---

April 21, 2010 | Abhay/ Cone Trees wrote:

This is how I link to PDF files at The UX Bookmark (http://theuxbookmark.com)

E.g.- [Pdf icon] Reducing the Cost of Eye Tracking Systems (PDF, 97 kb)

You can view my implementation here: http://www.theuxbookmark.com/2010/02/usability-engineering/reducing-the-cost-of-eye-tracking-systems/ 

---

March 26, 2010 | michelle mussuto wrote:

This reminds me of finding a problem where one doesn't exist. Users are familiar with both the PDF icon and (PDF, 00KB), why is there a need for change? Is this coming from users or designers? It's like sites that use a color other than blue for a hyperlink or use blue/underline for things that aren't hyperlinks. 

---

March 20, 2010 | Gary Barber wrote:

The major issue I have found with gateway pages and displaying the PDF via an page parser is that they are breaking the link to the real file.

Sometimes people just don't want to read the article online they want to download the PDF and use it offline.

This all depends on the audience, I have often found the PDF shock isn't usually experienced by low level web users, they just except that its another page. 

---

March 20, 2010 | Dorian Taylor wrote:

I use the following CSS (though I don't think it works in older IEs):

a[type~="application/pdf"]:after {
font-size: 60%;
vertical-align: text-top;
content: "\2009[PDF]";
}

This will match links with the type attribute set to application/pdf. \2009 is a Unicode hair space. 

---

March 20, 2010 | George Birbilis wrote:

Why not show a tooltip (use "description" attribute of the anchor tag)? 

---

March 19, 2010 | Jakob Nielsen wrote:

I actually have a slightly different recommendation, which is to link to a *gateway page* instead of linking directly to the PDF file:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030728.html

This approach avoids PDF shock, and allows you to use a regular link, since you're linking to a regular Web page.

If you don't want to create a gateway page, say for a one-time link to an external paper, then I would use something like (warning: PDF file, 3 MB) after the link. The little PDF icon is only enough if you're dealing with technically savvy users. 

---

March 19, 2010 | John wrote:

Official small icon available from Adobe:
http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html 

---

March 19, 2010 | John wrote:

Sometimes a small icon if appropriate for the site, or "[PDF]" in the linked text. 

---

Post a Comment

Comment:

Your Name:

Your Email Address:

.

To prevent comment spam, please answer the following :
What is 2 + 4: (enter the number)