If you put up a page with two columns of links–one HTML and one PDF–and the HTML pages try to mimic a multi-column printout with unusual fonts, then PDFs might be a popular choice. Using a redirect, though, clicking on “bulletins” should lead to a cleanly formatted HTML page with the latest bulletin rather than a calendar of links. At this point you’ve saved users a click and they can immediately start reading. Now they don’t have to even worry about which format to click.

Gerry McGovern chimes in on PDFs, too:
http://newsweaver.ie/gerrymcgovern/e_article000744072.cfm

Thank you for the thoughtful response. Testing with your users and making data-driven decisions is a smart way to go. Keep up the terrific work you’re doing at St. Mary’s.

At my parish, we tried the dual HTML and PDF options long ago, with HTML winning out.

Anyone else out there care to share their experience offering PDF and/or HTML versions of their bulletins or newsletters?

I will look into allowing for text size adjustments; you are the first of our many visitors to make such a request but it is a good one. When I get a free moment or two I’ll work on building this into the site.

My main reason for posting a reply is to address you gripe concerning only a PDF version of our entire bulletin on-line. I feel that I need to clarify why we do what we do at St. Mary’s of Greenville, SC so that your readers understand our decision. Three years ago we used to post the entire bulletin on-line in HTML. However, this process was time consuming and the main people who maintain the site were getting cramped for time. Thus, I compromised with them and we decided to post the HTML and PDF version for one year and track both using a web analyzing program. At the end of the year it was unanimous that our faithful visitors preferred PDFs over the HTML version ten to one. Thus, we decided to do away with the HTML version of the bulletin so that we could focus on keeping other parts of the site up-to-date and free up some of the weekly maintenance. I hope that sheds some light on why we do what we do. Lastly, I always use web analytic software to help make judgment calls for any website and encourage others to do so as well. I understand that while our visitors do not prefer an HTML bulletin other parishes could have visitors that do.

Again, thank you for your kind words and we’ll take your review into consideration as we move forward with our site to help make it a better experience for all visitors to our on-line home.

Best Regards,
Nate Hanna