PDF with a Net

By Jeremy Jarrell

In an effort to provide further means of sophisticated and content-rich
data visualization, Corda Technologies released Highwire 6.

The product enables users to generate PDF files from HTML
and XHTML documents, while retaining the format or intuitively reformatting
a particular Web page. And if users want to print a page, Highwire ensures they’ll
receive an accurate representation.

“You have financial services and e-commerce companies who have spent millions and
millions of dollars to get their Web pages looking absolutely spectacular,”
said David Vandagriff, vice president of marketing for Corda. “When [the user]
clicks for a printable version of the page, all of the money spent turning these into
great Web pages has suddenly gone right out the window.”

Highwire functions as a single line of code that calls upon Adobe Reader to
open the newly created PDF document. The product reformats a Web page to fit within
a standard 8.5″ x 11″ letter-size page. In certain instances, when a Web
page is too wide for suitable portrait orientation, Highwire creates the
PDF document in landscape mode. If necessary, Adobe Reader then uses its own advanced means of
printing, as opposed to a browser’s more limited capabilities, to print the document.

Another advantage of generating a PDF file from a Web page through Highwire
is its ability to create “snapshots” of information for distribution or archival purposes, particularly
when real-time or frequently updated data are involved.

“For example, if I want to save my 401(k) information as of June 2 at 4:30 p.m., I can
go ahead and save that file, and I have a snapshot; I can create my own archive,” Vandagriff
said. “If a financial services company wants to send out statements that are snapshots
of their Web pages at the end of every month, Highwire can handle that, as well.”

Corda followed the release of Highwire with a freeware version of Builder, a product that
generates maps, charts, graphs and PDF files from static information, such as that
found within a Web page or spreadsheet.