Air Carrier Captain reports missing 2;500 FT initial altitude restriction on the PDC departing EWR.

Narrative

Departing 22R at EWR we were handed off to NY Departure; I checked in stating '[Airline; flight number] heavy; leaving 1.6 for 5;000 FT'; at approximately 3;000 the controller queries '[airline]; what altitude are you climbing to?' I reply 5;000 and he states our clearance was to 2;500 and to maintain 4;000. There were no traffic conflicts. We complied; cleaned up; were handed off and once at cruise reviewed the chain of events. I checked the EWR 8 SID and the altitude was indeed 5;000; I reviewed the PDC that we received via ACARS and it took me a couple times reviewing the clearance before I caught the error. The last line of the first page had 'exception to the SID'; and then the first line of the second page read 'maintain 2;500'.Could this have been avoided? Of course; but as with any deviation; there's usually a chain of events. I've been operating out of EWR for the past few pairings; never an altitude change; and a little expectation bias on my part. On this flight we had highlighted on the first page of the PDC 'CREW ALERT ATC RTE CHG ELIOT J80 KIPPI then as filed'. I reviewed our flight plan on the release and noted that was already part of the route. I then hit next page; not noticing the last line; the next page I saw EWR 8 with the rest of the clearance. I must mention that the ACARS reads like a scroll or next page feature on a PDF document. It cuts sentences. I believe if 'exception to the SID; maintain 2;500' was one line; or a complete sentence; not broken by a page scroll; or even highlighted; like the nebulous CREW ALERT; this deviation would not have happened. I also; upon initial contact with departure always state; 'leaving 1.6 (abbreviated) for 5 thousand (not abbreviated). The controller was a little busy and did not catch the altitude climbing to. Bottom line; I will definitely review the PDC line by line; occasionally looking away to give my eyes a new focus and verbally challenge the other crewmember that he has indeed read the clearance off the ACARS.