3 ms·
I build such a service, but it is impossible to guarantee any reliable result. I ended up shutting it down. The PDF standard is a mess, and the number of 'tric
by LeonM 7y ago
I build such a service, but it is impossible to guarantee any reliable result. I ended up shutting it down.
The PDF standard is a mess, and the number of 'tricks' I've seen done is astonishing.
Example: to add shade or border effect to text, most PDF generators simple add the text twice with a subtle offset and different colors. Result: your SaaS service returns every sentence twice.
Off course there were workarounds, but at some point it became unmaintanable.
- shim__ 7y agoI'm actually surprised that PDF hasn't been superseded by some form of embedded HTML by now.
- mLuby 7y agoI blame CSS.
- faeyanpiraat 7y agoWhy?
- zo1 7y agoIn a way it has. In my experience, there have been multiple times where a "generate PDF" requirement has come up, with the best viable solution being "develop it in HTML using standard tech" followed by "and then convert it to PDF".
- Fnoord 7y agoIt partly has: ePub [1], an open format for ebooks, contain HTML. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB
- lmm 7y agoI'd say exactly the opposite. PDF makes it easy to create a document that looks exactly the way you want it to, which seems to be all that most web designers want (witness all the sites that force a narrow column on a large screen and won't reflow their text properly on a small screen).