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Sorry about the wait, Weed, I've been so busy all week I haven't had the chance to get online much. &nbsp;Sounds like &nbsp;a logical answer though. &nbsp;I haven't had the chance to play around with the symbols and witness the file size difference first hand, but I'm going to accept as answer now.<br />
<br />
Thank again,<br />
Dan
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Sorry about the wait, Weed, I've been so busy all week I haven't had the chance to get online much.  Sounds like  a logical answer though.  I haven't had the chance to play around with the symbols and witness the file size difference first hand, but I'm going to accept as answer now.

Thank again,
Dan

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I just got Illustrator 10 and I'm very interested in how the new symbol palette can reduce file size. &nbsp;It says using symbols will result in a smaller SWF, SVG, or AI file.<br />
<br />
My question is - before I invest time in trying to convert repeatedly used objects on some of my old maps to symbols - can a reduction in file size also be realized when saving to PDF format using symbols?<br />
<br />
Or will the PDF format simply treat the symbols the same as it has always treated objects, storing each one individually?<br />
<br />
And if symbols do affect PDF file size, here's a follow-up question:<br />
<br />
If a symbol is stored both in the symbol palette and as a glyph in a font, is there any advantage to using the symbol from the symbol palette over simply embedding the character in the font when making a PDF?<br />
<br />
Thanks,<br />
Dan
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I just got Illustrator 10 and I'm very interested in how the new symbol palette can reduce file size.  It says using symbols will result in a smaller SWF, SVG, or AI file.

My question is - before I invest time in trying to convert repeatedly used objects on some of my old maps to symbols - can a reduction in file size also be realized when saving to PDF format using symbols?

Or will the PDF format simply treat the symbols the same as it has always treated objects, storing each one individually?

And if symbols do affect PDF file size, here's a follow-up question:

If a symbol is stored both in the symbol palette and as a glyph in a font, is there any advantage to using the symbol from the symbol palette over simply embedding the character in the font when making a PDF?

Thanks,
Dan

Illustrator 10 Symbol Palette and PDF format

A font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, one piece (called a "sort") for each glyph, and a typeface consists of a range of fonts that share an overall design. With the advent of digital typography, font is frequently synonymous with typeface, although the two terms do not necessarily mean the same thing. In particular, the use of "vector" or "outline" fonts means that different sizes of a typeface can be dynamically generated from one design. Each style may still be in a separate "font file" -- for instance, the typeface "Futura" may include the fonts "Futura roman", "Futura italic", "Futura bold" and "Futura extended" —- but the term "font" might be applied either to one of these alone or to the whole typeface.

Fonts Typography

Websites use graphics to enhance information, assist navigation, and generally improve the user’s experience. To create those graphics, developers use any number of programs, like the Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop and Flash have their own topics), the CorelDraw suite, Xara, Gimp, ACDSee, Serif, ULead and others.