SITE ..PDF Best Practices
PDF files continue to be a common & universal way to show documents on web sites for many reasons.
PDF Scan vs PDF Print
A scanned pdf is an image, the text is not selectable and when made larger, it is grainy. This type of file is not searchable and it is not ADA complaint because assisted readers are not able to read it.
Print to pdf produces a vector based file, selectable, searchable and assisted programs can read them.
PDF File Size ..mainly an issue with scanned pdf files
One may ask how small should they be in file size?
However,
It is better to think of it as -- Is this pdf I am loading optimal size or very small already?
This is because, the larger flie is, the more issues may occur with uploading, downloading & viewing by visitors and the more space it takes on the server and backups. Although a server will take larger files, please optimizes are pdfs over 500kb. Especially pdfs that will remain on the server longterm.
This practice is good for the server and it helps visitors keep data usage down, which is often a concern on cell phones. It also help keep the web site faster for visitors.
***NOTE***
It is better to save to pdf, then to scan to pdf. The first results in a vector pdf, the latter will produce a pixelated pdf. Vector pdfs are of highest quality and much smaller file size.