If you’ve been using the Internet for a while you know how difficult it can be to save web pages, and this is in contrast with the portability and convenience that PDF provides. However you no longer have to put up with this since it is actually easy to save web page as PDF now.
Why Web Pages Should be Saved as PDFs
There are many benefits but foremost of them is the fact that you don’t need an Internet connection to view a PDF file. Once you have converted a web page into PDF format, you can download it on your computer and keep a permanent copy. You don’t need to go online to access the data. If the web page is only online, you’ll need Internet access to retrieve it, and if there’s no web you can’t view the document.
Most browsers have an option to save entire web pages, but they’re far from satisfactory. Browsers will save the page in their own proprietary format, so it can only be opened with that browser. If your colleague doesn’t have that browser, they won’t be able to open the file.
And even if they do have the same browser, the page formatting will be messed up because your browser won’t save the ads. If you do open the file you will see that some images are not there, and the text formatting is all wrong.
The Benefits of PDF
If you save the page in PDF format the formatting and layout will remain intact including the graphics, texts and tables. Once the file has been converted, you’ll be able to view the file on any PDF viewer. Since PDF files are cross platform, you don’t have to worry about compatibility either.
A look at the other methods used for saving web pages will also illustrate the efficiency of the PDF format.
The most common method of saving a web page is to bookmark it, but this is hardly effective. The reason is you are not saving the file content of the page but only its location. If the page is updated then the original content will no longer be there, either relocated or deleted.
The other method commonly used by users is to copy and paste. However this method is only useful for copying text. Anyone who’s tried to “select all” a web page and paste it into Word knows this doesn’t work. Some of the pictures will not be copied or it may include ads you don’t want. And if the web page is complex, your word processor might crash because it’s trying to copy a complex material.
Another option is to save the file as an HTML page, but many of the formatting will be lost. Screen capture on the other hand, will have you pressing the “print screen” key on your keyboard and then pasting the page in your word processor.
The problem here is you only get to save the part of the web page that is visible on the screen. If the page is long, you’ll have to do a lot of scrolling and screen captures which is cumbersome and produces unsatisfactory results.
Online Conversion is the Best Option
There’s no shortage of options these days for saving a page into a PDF document, but these options can be divided into two general types: downloadable programs and the online converter. It’s far more convenient to do the conversion / saving process online as you don’t have to put up with the problems that come with programs that require downloading.
Downloading a program can take a lot of time, and if you need that file now you’ll be hard pressed. Even after you have installed the application you need to spend time getting familiar with the user interface and layout. Unfortunately this can take longer than you think since these programs are usually stuffed with a lot features you don’t need.
To save web pages as PDF simply copy the URL of the page and then click “save as PDF”. That’s all there is to it. Now you just need to download the file and read it. It’s for these reasons why it’s more convenient to save web page as PDF.
