Designers Guide to Mac OS X Tiger

Just as printers and other output devices play a critical role in the process of taking a concept from electronic bits of information trapped inside your Mac out to a final printed piece that is delivered to your client, PDF is the file format that lets you convert your documents into electronic versions of your printed pieces.

Files that are output as PDF look the same no matter which operating system you open them on, clients can't accidentally change your layout, and most print shops prefer PDF documents because they don't have to worry about file setup or fonts. PDF is the equalizer that puts us all on the same playing field when it comes to viewing documents, so that's where we'll go next.