Why is it that every government department seems to think that people actually “read” things online. Read this carefully: THEY DON’T!
People “scan” text…reading online is unpleasant and unnatural given screen limitations, eye fatigue and an expectation for rapid information access. Study after study has proven this over and over again.
A good example where many public sector organizations fail at this miserably is in publishing online annual reports. For some reason, they are always displayed as scanned copies (PDF format) of the print version. This used to be all great in the past if your website was meant to simply act as a storage of information/warehouse for people to come and print documents. However, for those of you that haven’t noticed, the web has changed, such a website purpose is no longer acceptable.
Your website must now be engaging and interactive, this is what web users are used to, this is what they demand! It should help users find what they are looking for quickly and efficiently. There is nothing quick and efficient about a PDF (note: PDF’s should always be offered as an option but not as the ONLY option).
Take a look at what the Civil Service Commission has done in the UK with its annual report. This is a great example of effective integration of a PDF document with an interactive Annual Report (click on the link once you get on this page):Civil Service Commissioners | News | Annual report for 2006-07