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PDF as a native browser feature started IIRC with Chrome — until then, everyone had to use a plugin. I’ve always thought the reason Chrome built in a PDF reader
by signal11 6y ago
PDF as a native browser feature started IIRC with Chrome — until then, everyone had to use a plugin. I’ve always thought the reason Chrome built in a PDF reader was that Adobe Reader was really slow to start and brought the browsing experience to a jarring halt.
People would even put in “warning: pdf” text when linking to PDFs because of how Adobe Reader slowed people down.
- foxdev 6y agoI thought PDF.js was the first implementation. Firefox added it in 2012.
- muxator 6y agoThis is my recollection, too. Firefox was first, with pdf.js
- signal11 6y agoChrome’s PDF viewer launched in Dec 2010[1] with v8.0.552. The release notes do note that a benefit of the built-in viewer is that it’s sandboxed. That’s fair enough, I guess — the Chrome team had a bee in their bonnet about plugins going all the way back to the Chrome launch comic[2]. Interestingly the Chrome team were using svn back then — that’s how long it’s been :-) [1] https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2010/12/stable-beta-channel-updates.html https://chromereleases.googleblog.com/2010/12/stable-beta-ch... [2] https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/big_28.html https://www.google.com/googlebooks/chrome/big_28.html