Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

mozilla.github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 94 posts

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#21

Post by uams »

This is super cool.

While I can't imagine myself using it anytime soon, it's clear that web applications are improving at a far faster rate then native applications and, with t large enough, the first derivative means that web will eclipse native.

This seems like an academic exercise at the moment; it's to prove that you can replicate a native experience only.

However, it seems that this could be vastly improved by playing to the strengths of the internet. The only online apps that have beat native ones so far have been because of cloud storage and collaboration. First, use filepicker.io or something so this can open my online files. Second, bake some collaboration into it.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#22

Post by esolyt »

fafner wrote: post #18
Swizec wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few months after this was first shown on HN Chrome started shipping with a built-in pdf reader that looks exactly the same on both MacOS and Linux. I always assumed it was pdf.js

No, Chrome has its own binary plugin. IIRC it is closed source and not available in Chromium. Pdf.js is developed by Mozilla and now shipped with Firefox and it works quite well so far.

That's correct. I use Chromium on Arch Linux and it doesn't come with the proprietary pdf reader by default.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#23

Post by qxcv »

RandallBrown wrote: post #10
jowiar wrote: post #3

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed. 2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a website, attempting to make things "easier." Between Scribd and Slideshare, and Adobe trying to force its hideous crash-prone plugins into my browser, there are already enough people making a mess out of what is one of the more well-thought-out aspects of OS X. Giv…

I think Firefox has been shipping with this for awhile to view PDFs. It may be an about:config value you have to turn on though.

I only noticed it in FF15, but it may have been there for longer. Change pdfjs.disabled to false in about:config (followed by a browser restart) if you want to turn it on. Here's a test file[0] should you wish to test it out.

I've been using pdf.js for a while on my Windows box (where it is enabled by default on the FF beta channel) and it has performed remarkably well. Sometimes it's a bit slower than Adobe Reader or messes up colour or formatting, but on the whole I've quite enjoyed using it.

[0]: https://svn.torproject.org/svn/projects/design-paper/tor-des...

Note that the text in [0] doesn't scale properly, and the page previews in the navigation pane just show garbled text. Usable, but only just.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#24

Post by Argorak »

RandallBrown wrote: post #10
jowiar wrote: post #3

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed. 2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a website, attempting to make things "easier." Between Scribd and Slideshare, and Adobe trying to force its hideous crash-prone plugins into my browser, there are already enough people making a mess out of what is one of the more well-thought-out aspects of OS X. Giv…

I think Firefox has been shipping with this for awhile to view PDFs. It may be an about:config value you have to turn on though.

It is included, but off in release versions at the moment.

In about:config :

name: pdfjs.disabled status: default type: boolean value: false

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#25

Post by knowtheory »

Swizec wrote: post #15
jowiar wrote: post #3

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed. 2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a website, attempting to make things "easier." Between Scribd and Slideshare, and Adobe trying to force its hideous crash-prone plugins into my browser, there are already enough people making a mess out of what is one of the more well-thought-out aspects of OS X. Giv…

A few months after this was first shown on HN Chrome started shipping with a built-in pdf reader that looks exactly the same on both MacOS and Linux. I always assumed it was pdf.js

I believe all the other replies to your comment to be incorrect.

Both Chrome and Android use the skia (http://code.google.com/p/skia/ ) library as far as i am aware (see http://code.google.com/searchframe#OAMlx_jo-ck/src/third_par... )

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#26

Post by jcfrei »

jcheng wrote: post #14
jpallen wrote: post #9

I'm really excited for this for http://www.sharelatex.com and other similar sites that are actually generating a PDF for you. With native PDF viewers there is no way to interact with the viewer via javascript and even just having the viewer stay on the same page when your reload a document (with minor changes) is impossible. Pdf.js means that we'll be able to do this easily, as well as other cool things like letting…

Our web-based IDE[1] does exactly this, including syncing between source and PDF, using PDF.js. Works great for the most part! [1] http://rstudio.org

nice, this is quite a sophisticated solution! have your heard of airxcell? they're doing something similar (with spreadsheets).

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#27

Post by cygal »

knowtheory wrote: post #25
Swizec wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few months after this was first shown on HN Chrome started shipping with a built-in pdf reader that looks exactly the same on both MacOS and Linux. I always assumed it was pdf.js

I believe all the other replies to your comment to be incorrect. Both Chrome and Android use the skia ( http://code.google.com/p/skia/ ) library as far as i am aware (see http://code.google.com/searchframe#OAMlx_jo-ck/src/third_par... )

This is not a PDF reader but a graphics library.

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#29

Post by hey_lu »

esolyt wrote: post #22
fafner wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, Chrome has its own binary plugin. IIRC it is closed source and not available in Chromium. Pdf.js is developed by Mozilla and now shipped with Firefox and it works quite well so far.

That's correct. I use Chromium on Arch Linux and it doesn't come with the proprietary pdf reader by default.

There is also a Google Chrome/Chromium extension also provided by the pdf.js team. (It's not in the webstore, though.)

I've used it since about half a year and I like it a lot. (Not having to download PDFs all the time and having PDFs in tabs alongside the sites I read.)

Re: Pdf.js: PDF Reader in JavaScript

#30

Post by pucinators »

Argorak wrote: post #24
RandallBrown wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Firefox has been shipping with this for awhile to view PDFs. It may be an about:config value you have to turn on though.

It is included, but off in release versions at the moment. In about:config : name: pdfjs.disabled status: default type: boolean value: false

I'm no usability expert, but to me it would make more sense to name that parameter "pdfjs.enabled" true/false
Post reply on HN