Adobe Acrobat
files (typically with a file extension of *.PDF) are formatted to display and
print documents in their original style and layout, including type fonts,
graphics, etc. The overall appearance of an Acrobat-formatted file,
particularly when you output it on your printer, is far superior to printing a
Web page in HTML language.
The files are also
quite compact in size, making them ideal for the Internet and World Wide Web.
The PDF file extension is an
acronym for Portable Document Format, which means that these files can be
viewed and printed on any computer platform and operating system - PC/Windows,
Macintosh, Unix, etc. All that's needed is to have a copy of the Acrobat
Reader program on your computer.
This program is available
free to anyone who wishes to download it from the Adobe Web
site. Note that it is really free, not shareware - Adobe licenses it
to anyone. And if you are using an up-to-date Web browser (Netscape Ver. 3.0
or above, or Microsoft Internet Explorer Ver. 3.0 or above), you can install
Acrobat Reader as a plug-in to your browser and it will automatically read a
PDF file when you click on it. You can then print it out, save it to your hard
disk, or both.
Important Version Note:
This site uses PDF files created with a recent version of Acrobat, and they
require Acrobat Reader Version 4.0 to view. If you have an older
version (3.0 or earlier), it may not work with these files.
To download the
latest free version of Acrobat Reader software, click on the icon below. If
for some reason you can't see the icon in your browser, the URL is -
http://www.adobe.com/prodindex/acrobat/readstep.html
Adobe
Acrobat Reader 
