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PDF1/A is a great standard for printable documents. Because it doesn't try to do anything else. Regular PDF with embedded flash, quicktime, HTML/XML forms and/
by creshal 10y ago
PDF1/A is a great standard for printable documents. Because it doesn't try to do anything else.
Regular PDF with embedded flash, quicktime, HTML/XML forms and/or javascript, is a nightmare.
- blowski 10y agoA few years back, I had to borrow someone's computer to fill out the UK passport form. It was full of extensions that only worked in the latest version of Adobe Acrobat - which wasn't available on Ubuntu (at the time). I couldn't even print the form and fill it by hand.
- cpach 10y agoYeah, it’s bad when governments depend on proprietary formats like that. It would be better if they would use a simple web app for entering the data, and then generate a PDF server-side. (Or even better perhaps, just let the whole application process live online.)
- creshal 10y agoDoing forms in PDF directly is not the most unreasonable idea. The problem is it's not one, but three ridiculously overcomplex specification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format#Interactive_elements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Document_Format#Inter...
- blowski 10y agoIt's fine if it's the easiest method available with universal support. In this case in failed on both counts.