From Paper to Web was simultaneously published in paper and on the web on April 1, 1997. The paperback edition was produced by Adobe Press and it appeared internationally in English, Spanish and Portuguese. I published the PDF edition on the web on a dedicated server running the Verity Search engine. This was one of the first demonstrations of searchable PDF content available on the web, the site was designed to bring the concepts I wrote about to life – “From Paper to Web.”
The English language printing included 35,000 copies. I assume the Spanish and Portuguese versions were about 5,000 copies each. Later, a Swiss publisher translated the book to German and printed a new version, I assume that was another 5,000 copies. Fujitsu America purchased a special print run of 5,000 copies that they included in the box with their scanners, along with a copy of Adobe Acrobat. Add it all up – “From Paper to Web” is a bestseller!
I have been blessed to have worked in the field of software solutions focused on OCR and PDF since the book was introduced. I’m a lucky guy to work with technologies I love. Everything I predicted about PDF in this book has come true. The Portable Document Format is by far the world’s leading alternative to paper, and the most widely used electronic document format.
All the features and functions of PDF detailed in “From Paper to Web” still work the way I described them in the early days of the Portable Document Format. For the Web version, I added links to the chapters on the cover, and the Table of Contents, Index and References are all live links to demonstrate the dynamic nature of electronic documents. And of course the PDF prints with all the fidelity of Illustrations, Layouts, Color and Fonts. That’s the genius of PDF – the best of paper and digital documents in one small, durable and secure file. Click on the link below to read it on the web as it was published on April 1, 1997, or click the Download button for your own copy. Take a look – you are reading a 25 year old PDF document!
The original “From Paper to Web” published on the Web on April 1, 1997 in the original PDF 1.2 version – it still works 25 years later. What a format!