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You are here: Home / OnTheGo Learning / Communication / Mobile-friendly PDF

Mobile-friendly PDF

March 7, 2020 by Jason E. Norris

Guy looking at smartphone. Mobile Friendly PDF.

How many times a day do you read something on your phone?

For me? Every. Single. Day.

Google searches. Facebook. Occasionally Twitter. Kindle. Even the show notes in Overcast (it’s where I get my podcasts).

*sigh*

There is one kind of document that’s practically unreadable on my device.

PDFs.

Technically, they can be read on a phone, but it requires a lot of work. Lots of zooming, sliding, and scrolling.

Usually what happens is I end up waiting until I’m at my laptop before I’m able to read it.

If I remember to do it.

Of course, that requires searching again for the PDF, usually in my email. And sometimes the distance is too far between when I wanted to read it and when I’m able to pull it up on my laptop. Often, my interest in it has waned.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with designing a PDF for a large screen. I’m simply suggesting you also make a mobile-friendly PDF.

It’s not difficult. You just need to keep the mobile audience in mind when working with your document.

Here is an example of a PDF designed for mobile devices. I’ve included suggestions for readable font-sizes and other tips to make your next PDF mobile friendly and a joy to read on the go.

If you decide to follow this guide, I’d love to see the results.

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About Jason E. Norris

I love exploring ideas. Any idea! But usually I stick with ideas around communication, education, faith, and storytelling.

One of my biggest interests right now is instructional design. I'm learning all about it while developing my concept of OnTheGo Learning. That’s a specific approach to education that applies principles of learning and communication to teach and train via mobile devices.


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