A4 to A5?

[thomaso]

12 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

which I opened and then scaled to A5. I exported it to PDF just to see the effect in file size.

Just in case of a misunderstanding: Reducing the page dimension of an entire Affinity document never can cause a reduced export file size. Note that reducing with this useful APub feature will increase the resources resolution. With other words it is the resolution which matters (the effective DPI), not just an objects dimension.

[thomaso]

14 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

There are other solutions out there. For example PDF 24 (free)

Additionally to Lagarto's hints the download version seems to be available for Windows OS only – while the online version might not be 'trustful' for client related projects since it is not obvious in which way the uploaded data remain in the web (...may get misused?).

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[PaulEC]

12 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

That's of course true. But why Acrobat keeps on mentioned on this forum is because it can be used for many other tasks, too, foremost to check that what gets produced with Affinity apps is ok for printing. There are not many alternatives for this, and as far as I know, not at least ones that are free.

 

2 minutes ago, thomaso said:

Additionally to Lagarto's hints the download version seems to be available for Windows OS only – while the online version might not be 'trustful' for client related projects since it is not obvious in which way the uploaded data remain in the web (...may get misused?).

I completely agree with both of you – I was just trying to point out that if someone just has one specific problem with a PDF there are alternatives to the extortionate cost of Acrobat Pro (especially if you are not a professional user). I use it myself at work, but for home use I prefer free alternatives! 😉

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[000]

1) If it's about physical DIMENSIONS, the easiest, but slightly ,hacksaw' solution is to use a PDF printer (integrated into macOS, lots of free software available for Windows) is to print it with a size of 71%.

2) If it's about FILE SIZE, the easiest solution is to reduce the image resolution from 300 (prepress) to 96 (screens) when exporting the PDF file.

Generally: The physical page size doesn't matter for distribution on iPads or computer screens, people can simply zoom in and out as they please to see images or read text. As @thomaso correctly stated, the physical dimension and file size are mostly unrelated, exporting in a physically smaller size won't affect file size.

[thomaso]

5 minutes ago, Lagarto said:

Surely reducing an A0 poster with bitmaps etc. to an A5 size version, and exporting both at e.g. 150 dpi with otherwise equal settings reduces the file size of the exported PDFs.

Sorry for misleading, of cause this your recipe is correct – but in case of this thread's task (> web view only) setting the output resolution is sufficient, no need or advantage to scale the page dimensions (of the entire 96 pages document, + possibly visual issues after scaling). So instead of changing dimensions + maintaining export DPI one could maintain dimensions + change export DPI only.

[thomaso]

4 minutes ago, Jens Krebs said:

1) If it's about physical DIMENSIONS, the easiest, but slightly ,hacksaw' solution is to use a PDF printer (integrated into macOS,

I agree with your explicit distinction between DIMENSIONS and FILE SIZE.

I don't know about Windows, but in macOS there is no user interface to define certain export options (e.g. compression rate) when using this way the macOS internal PDF library. The resulting PDF may have a smaller page size, but may be unsatisfactory in terms of file size ... in relation to this thread.

[Nazario]

Changing the physical size of the document i.e. a4 to a5 without downsampling the images will lead to little or no reduction in end file size. Most of the data is inside the images and they have not changed, yes they will look smaller but the dpi has now increased so they are essentially untouched and contain the same amount of data. You don't need to change the dimensions of the page as the ratio is still the same so simply export with images downsampled and the output PDF (tfnthats what you're using) set to the page size you require.

All that being said though, and as others have pointed out, if it's only going to be viewed online being a4 or a5 doesn't matter in the slightest as people will be zooming in and out and viewing at different levels. As long as the images appear sharp at relatively comfortable zoom levels then thats all that is required. Export as PDF and play with image downsampling. Even Adobes 'one click' solution' will not be perfect (its effectively just a preset). Its better to have control of the detail and set accordingly so if you want something to look its best a one click solution isn't the best option. Spend that little extra time to get it perfect.

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[000]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

there is no user interface to define certain export options

Sorry, that was my fault, I should have been a bit clearer: Option 1 refers to printing the PDF with "File --> Print", Option 2 refers to using the Affinity PDF export options, creating a file in 100% physical size, but with reduced image resolution. I used the terms "print" and "export" but could have phrased it more clearly.

[thomaso]

9 minutes ago, Jens Krebs said:

Sorry, that was my fault, I should have been a bit clearer: Option 1 refers to printing the PDF with "File --> Print", Option 2 refers to using the Affinity PDF export options, creating a file in 100% physical size, but with reduced image resolution. I used the terms "print" and "export" but could have phrased it more clearly.

No fault, you have been clear. It's just that if you PRINT as PDF from APub via the built-in macOS feature then you can't set any PDF options, so you can't choose the PDF version (e.g. 1.7 vs. 1.4, PDF/X), nor the color space (RGB vs. CMYK) or profile and also not the image compression rate or quality. This way the PRINT workflow can produce an unwanted result even though the dimensions are reduced.

[000]

2 hours ago, Lagarto said:

Here is a kind of a conclusion of what I have found out:

If I bought your ebook /magazine and it would look as bad as ANY of the examples you posted (even what you call ,borderline acceptable'); I'd return it and complain and the file labeled "original" with just 5MB is relatively small, so nothing to worry about.

This discussion has kind of spread far away from your initial question, spiralling into several potential and theretical examples and @Lagarto investing valuable time into reducing a 4.5 MB file down to 1.5MB, resulting in a massive quality loss. Neither of these examples have come from the original threadstarter, so ... 

@ksrcreative Can you get us back on track with some specifics, please? What size is your original A4 PDF export and what file size do you need to publish it on your website? Maybe simply posting a screenshot of the right PDF export settings for you will suffice, once we know what we're ACTUALLY dealing with ...

 

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