The New and Improved Primer

In the Jan/Feb 2000 issue of Handheld PC Magazine (now Pocket PC Magazine), Chris De Herrera introduced us to the beta version of Primer, a new PDF document viewer for Windows CE and Palm OS devices by Ansyr Technology. The PDF format is a widely used standard for document storage within many organizations, both public and private, which makes it a great application for Windows CE powered computers. Version 2.3 works with Pocket, Palm-size and Handheld PCs (see Screens 1 & 2), and has a number of new and improved features, which will be of interest to enterprise users.

Screens 1 & 2: Primer is a PDF document viewer for Windows CE Handheld PCs (left) and Pocket or Palm-size PCs (right)

Primer Supported Features

Primer supports most PDF Image formats including encrypted (password protected) documents. Primer allows for hyperlinks within documents, but not between documents. This means that you can use internal hyperlinks to take you to any part of a document. For example "Install Primer" hyperlink would take me to the Installing Primer subheading near the end of this document. External hyperlinks such as Web page or email address links are not supported.

Primer supports User-defined bookmarks, Table of Contents and annotations, but not for Thumbnails or PDF forms. On Handheld PC devices there are multiple zoom levels (25 ­ 400%) and you can view Font substitution (see Screen 3) and document (PDF metadata) information. When Primer cannot match the font in your original document, it uses a substitute font. If you need to see information about your PDF file such as Filename, Author, Date the file was created or modified, this can be found using the Document Information feature.

Screen 3. The H/PC version of Primer lets you view Font substitution information (shown here) and PDF metadata.

New features and improvements

This latest version adds a number of new features, including the ability to print directly from a Handheld PC device. This means that you are no longer tied to your desktop PC when you need a quick printout.

Enhancements to the Navigation tools include improved 'Go To' functions, more detailed Help files and a more informative display in the Document Detail window (see Screen 4). The ability to see the last 4 files viewed in the Open File menu and even the Table of Contents and Bookmark menu have been made expandable and more user friendly (see Screen 5).

Screen 4. Primer's Document Detail window now provides more information about the PDF file being viewed, including file name, subject, author, and where and when the document was created.

Screen 5. Primer's Display Options screen has been enhanced, now displaying and allowing you to set the Display Quality and Memory Usage to improve rendering speed and screen quality. This screen shows the improved Table of Contents and Bookmark menu, which have been made expandable and more user friendly.

The screen display option (see Screen 5) has been enhanced, allowing you to set display quality and memory usage to improve rendering speed and screen quality. Pocket PC users will appreciate the new and improved button layout which optimizes viewable screen space so you can view more of your document yet still perform all necessary functions quickly and efficiently.