Saints' Discussion Forums

What's the difference between PDF and RTF?

Well, a PDF is a file that is generally bigger and contains images of each page, like photos or pictures.. Adobe invented it for their Publishing programs.

An RTF file is a file that is generally smaller and contains text, it stands for 'rich text file' or 'rich text format' and means that you can view plain type or text, with some special effects like bolding, italics, etc.

An RTF file is what you get if you type in each page of a book, a PDF if you take a photo of each page.

Since each PDF file is like a photo of a book's page, often times you can't copy and paste the text from them, unless it's also been processed by OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and included in the file too.

On the other hand each RTF file handles images along with text very poorly if they are inserted in there, it's not made for that really so they rarely are.

One major issue with PDFs is they are so big often, and trying to make them smaller so as to be able to fit more books cost effectively on the website. :) One PDF can be 50 megabytes, while one RTF can be 1 megabyte or far less. One can make smaller PDFs and RTFs from larger PDFs with a lot of work and that's part of what I try to do when I have spare time to do it.  :D

Thanks. Got it.

You're welcome!  :D

My brother was telling me about the new Kindle Reader developed by Amazon.
It's meant to be excellent and doesn't have screen glare problem that makes reading from the computer for long periods not too pleasant.

It can hold hundreds of books including PDF's which it converts to book format.

Have you tried it or heard of it, Shin, Brigid?

Good explanation, Shin. Thanks for asking Brigid. Always thought of it, but felt it would be too dumb to ask.  Looks like you are the smart one to ask. :D

My father's been encouraging me to let him buy me a Nook as a gift.. A Nook is like a Kindle but made by Barnes and Nobles.. I've been discouraging it because I don't need more knick-knacks I won't use for long and besides anticipate it going on sale and a new version perhaps in full color coming out before too much longer -- if I was going to let him get it.  ::) This may of course, be a mistake on my part, my father has an unaccountable knack for being right when there's no logical reason I can see at the moment, only in hindsight later on.

Honestly.. the things are an acquired taste.. I advise testing one out before making a purchase if possible..

The Nook at the moment has free Internet whenever it's near enough some wireless hotspots affiliated with the device, but it's such a small screen it's tough to use for that except to visit free ebook sites.

They're all also different in what kind of e-books they can view, but I forget the details as Dad tried to get me into this months ago and I haven't thought about it in awhile.

Hmm... My brothers thinking about getting one so I'll wait and see what he thinks when he has it a while.

As you say, I'm trying also to degadgetize (if there's such a word) my life but I'm thinking I might be able to read more away from the PC with something like that.
Or just stick with the computer for penance.  :-\

Yes, my mother has one, loves it and suggested it to me, however I like the smell and feel of real books so I'll stick with the library or buying them. Every so often one needs to read them on line, but not enough to get an extra gadget and so complicate my life even more. ::) I'm also trying to rid myself of anything I don't really want - I don't need most of that.

 :D

'When, a house takes fire, the furniture is thrown out of the windows; and when a soul burns with divine love, she, without the aid of sermons, or spiritual reading, or the exhortations of directors, divests herself of all affection for creatures, to possess and to love her only Supreme Good the God of Majesty and Sovereign of the universe.'

St. Francis de Sales

 :D

I much prefer the paper books too but with the amount of books on the Saints Books that I still wish to read it's making that gadget appealing.
My work collegue dosn't use a computer and I'm always telling him about the things I've read of the saints and I can naver say it the way they have said it, so I could open up a passage and let him read it for himself at work.
WELL,, That's what I'm running through me brain at the minute.  ???

It might be good for you Marin! :D I just don't know! If you check out the return policy and its long enough for you to try it out and see whether you will genuinely use it, there is that! Don't be afraid of returns!

I will say since I -don't- have one I don't know how readable our works are with them, hmm.. Perhaps I should get one to better optimize for those readers our books.. Agh.. now you've got me going Martin.. less is more.. is more.. less is more, only if it is truly truly useful and beneficial..

Now that is food for thought...  :D

But I'm guessing I'll be needing the saints for a long time yet.   :boggles:

A long long time yet..  :rotfl:

 :happyroll:

I know Shin....
I'm trying to go more down the path of Plain Catholic rather than cluttered Catholic so adding another gadget might not be the best way to do this.  :-\

Get ye behind me Kindle reader.   :D

:rotflblue: :rotflblue:

 :happyroll:

It might be the exception, but the probability is against it!

You could consider, say, if you got it, getting rid of something else to compensate beforehand?

I was just hearing from a friend of mine and he lost a good deal of his stuff recently and wrote me: "As a single guy, I can afford to buy stuff. I do not have many of the things that most people have. For instance, I don't have a bed, a sofa, or a kitchen table. All of my clothes fit easily into my closet and I don't need a dresser. I sleep on an air mattress which I find very comfortable. I have two bar stools on which I can sit and eat. I know - I have too many bar stools!!! LOL I bought a computer desk and office chair. "

He asked me if he was going overboard, and let me tell you, I told him in no way shape or form! :D It was splendid to hear!

His Patron saint just has to be John the Baptist.   :D

Yes... Get rid of stuff.

Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."  (Luke 9: 58)