Adobe LiveCycle Designer and Acrobat PDF Forms: Under the Hood

By Ted Padova

About the Author   Ted Padova Ted Padova is the author of more than 20 computer books, the most recent include: Adobe Creative Suite Bible (Wiley Publishing) versions 1 & 2 and Adobe Acrobat PDF Bible (Wiley Publishing) versions 4, 5, 6 & 7 and Adobe Reader 7 Revealed (Peachpit Press).  More   RELATED ARTICLES Acrobat 7 Product Family Feature Matrix Planet PDF Resource Centers: Home Acrobat Developer Workshops in Europe to feature Acrobat 7 Planet PDF Resource Centers: Enterprise & Government

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I recently returned from Carl Young's PDF Conference in Washington D.C. This conference is always a treat for me as it gives me a chance to see several good friends and meet many new users in the Acrobat PDF community. There's always something new and exciting being offered by the speakers and I usually come back learning more than I can hope to offer in my sessions. The conference also helps me gain insight on the hot topics and areas of most interest in the PDF community.

This year there was much discussion about Adobe LiveCycle Designer, some comments from speakers and attendees about Designer vs. AcroForms, and some expressed concerns from attendees about what tool to use when creating a PDF form. On the 5-hour plane trip back home, I started to think about the ups and downs of Designer vs. AcroForms and thought I would toss out my impressions in this article.

Sample files used

• Ted's invoice form [ZIP: 489 KB]
• MS Word form design [ZIP: 7 KB]
• PDF form from MS Word design [ZIP: 219 KB]
• Password storage PDF document [ZIP: 3.4 MB]

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