Saving PDF for Web?

Hello!
I recently designed a 6-page annual report, meant to be disseminated as a PDF via web and e-mail. I am having trouble getting the PDF small enough and streamlined enough for this purpose. The file is under 4MB, but even on my system it is difficult to scroll through it, and graphics take a moment to appear or flash repeatedly on the screen.
The design is simple but includes many gradients and transparencies, which I assume is the root of the problem. I have flattened transparency and converted text to outlines. There are no images other than one vector logo. When saving as a PDF, I choose "smallest file size," with all options unticked except "save for fast web review." Lowering downsampling under "compression" made no difference. Even external sites like smallpdf.com would not make the file smaller. I'm not even sure changing the file size will ultimately solve the issue of the graphic elements flashing and taking time to properly appear.
Is there anything else I can do to make this file more accessible to a broad audience?
Thanks!

Outlining is considered very bad practice for many reasons (and cannot be undone).
True, but not in all cases...
But that is for a different conversation.
You could try using indesign.
I have found this will create a much more compact PDF then illustrator.
and is much better at dealing with text

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File > Export > Adobe PDF (Print)
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Standard: None
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Export Layers: Visible & Printable Layers
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Show Large Images is a preference inside of Acrobat which might be disabled.
Acrobat - File > Preferences

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Hey There,
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There’s a big difference in what you want, Joel and what the OP asked for.
For plain old vanilla PDF, you should be fine, but the OP is worried about people needing to download something for EPUB when in reality that’s less of an issue than PDF.
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Hello All,
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I am wondering why my advice was any worse than yours. I admit I mistakenly suggested Monitor RGB instead of Windows RGB but as far as I know sRGB is the default for most monitors. This would put them all pretty close. Am I missing something?
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http://indesignsecrets.com/document-overhead-in-indesigns-pdf-can-be-huuuuuuge.php

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Hi,
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I am wondering why my advice was any worse than yours. I admit I mistakenly suggested Monitor RGB instead of Windows RGB but as far as I know sRGB is the default for most monitors. This would put them all pretty close. Am I missing something?
I would think that having someone set the images with icc profiles and then adjusting their own browser to correctly display such images would cause the exact same problem you say my solution does. It would give the image editor an impression of the image that nobody else is going to see. I don't know anyone that uses icc profiles for web work. In general I don't think you will find many people who have set their browsers to correctly view images that have these profiles. So it seems like someone that has will be thinking the images look great on their system but not on someone else's.
If someone may eventually repurpose these for print then worry about icc profiles for the printer. It seems like a huge waste of time for anything that is purely on screen.
I am not trying to battle with you over who is correct I just want to understand what your saying.

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What application are you using? Despite our best efforts to advise you that WebHelp isn't the place to post this issue, you ended up posting in the RoboHelp WebHelp forum category.
I suspect you aren't using RoboHelp.
I'm moving this thread to Forum Comments until we hear back what app you are using. Then I'll move it to the appropriate venue.
Cheers... Rick
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Diagnosing output PDF-for-Web problems?

Where I work, we accept PDFs from clients (most using InDesign) and do a conversion so their magazines are accessible via devices like the iPad. Since our software converts pages to images, all layout is preserved. Our online reader allows magazine visitors to zoom in, so page resolution has to be about 144 pixels. We have one unhappy client who insists that we've done something different with their most recent two magazines that has caused degradation in quality. I've zoomed in on an image in one of their older magazines and its most recent version in a newer edition, and confirmed that the recent version looks pixelated and has excessive contrast/saturation. However, 1) None of our other clients have this problem despite their magazines being run through the same software, and 2) the settings inside our software have not been changed in more than a year.
I figure I have two options. Either look at the PDFs they sent us and figure out what they're doing wrong (their graphic designer has limited experience) or find a spec sheet somewhere that lists the best InDesign PDF output settings to use for Web reading (including retina screens), and send those settings to their designer.
Problem is, I don't know how to analyze a PDF, and my search for the optimum InDesign output settings leads me down several different roads. Can't really test it myself because we rarely use InDesign at our end. Suggestions?

Why not run a preflight check in Acrobat Pro? You can set up a check for images of less than x ppi.

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Thanks for that information, unfortunately I'm not really any closer to solving the issue since I've already tried that. 1) by default, doesn't Aperture automatically embed the sRGB color profile? 2) if I set view>proofing mode to sRGB shouldn't what I see on screen match what a "dumb" application such as Firefox does when it ignores the embedded profile and display sRGB? I've tried going into the preferences>export settings and changed everything to sRGB IEC61966-2.1 but I see no difference in the final image between that and the default setting.
I guess my question is more specific to Aperture since I don't have this problem with other applications. For example, in photoshop if I do Export for Web it strips out any embedded profile and when I open that image in Firefox and Safari side-by-side they are exactly the same. But not so when I export an image from Aperture, when opened in Firefox it is desaturated and flat and of course in Safari it honors the embedded profile and looks fine.

Saving PDF for Web?

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