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DEMYSTIFYING PDF FILES

Clicking on any of the green buttons on any of my pages will download course materials in Adobe "pdf" format. This format is really good because it reproduces the exact layout of the original paper document.
You need Acrobat Reader to do this. Some browsers have this capability already installed. Some don't, so here's where it gets a bit tricky.


IF YOU HAVE TROUBLE READING PDF FILES, PLEASE FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS:

ON CAMPUS--please contact QCC network services at help@qcc.mass.edu or call the computer help hotline at 4427.

OR--if you know you already have Adobe Acrobat Reader and you know where it is on your computer, your browser will probably ask you to "find an application" or "select an application" to read pdf files. Just do what it says.

IF YOU'RE OFF CAMPUS--you need to go to Adobe's web site, www.adobe.com, and download Acrobat Reader for your particular computer. After you unstuff the file, you must then complete the previous step. Here's the link for the Mac. Here's the Intel (Windows) link. YOU CANNOT USE THESE LINKS IF YOU ARE ON A CAMPUS COMPUTER.

WARNING: ANY "PDF" FILE WILL TAKE A RELATIVELY LONG TIME TO LOAD, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE OFF-CAMPUS, USING A MODEM, OR IF YOU ARE USING A VERY SLOW COMPUTER ON-CAMPUS--so, don't think your computer has crashed. A few of these files are over 300 k, so if your modem downloads at 2.8k per second--you do the math! I suggest that you don't try to download the larger files over a modem during peak internet use periods.

Hint: You can ALWAYS download these files and open them later, at your leisure, even if you don't have the software to view them now. Once you own the file, it's only a matter of getting the free software from Adobe or your network administrator.