pdfs look awful... but why?

[red_over_blue]

I'm just getting ready to call it quits for the night, and I thought of a question that came across my mind a couple times before.

Why do .pdf files look so bad in xpdf and acroread, but print perfectly?

I don't like it because I can't print from my home PC, and if I create a pdf and send it to someone, I want to know what it will look like when they view it.

This is especially true if I create the pdfs from latex files.

[ehawk]

I seem the same problem using xpdf or acroread. Use ghostview (gv). It seems to give much nicer screen output.