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Unless I'm on a paper-sized tablet I would definitely rather have an offline HTML file than a PDF. Nobody likes to pan back and forth on lines of text to read s

Unless I'm on a paper-sized tablet I would definitely rather have an offline HTML file than a PDF. Nobody likes to pan back and forth on lines of text to read something.

Robotbeat 5y ago
I had the exact opposite reaction. I’m reading this on an iPhone SE2020, and I MUCH appreciate reading this in pdf form. I didn’t have to pan back and forth or even put the phone in landscape orientation. This is one of the smallest smartphones you can still buy, and the experience of PDF is WAY better than the user-hostile auto-flow text forced down mobile users’ throats. I was skeptical at first, but I think the author made the point fantastically well.
- nemetroid 5y ago
  I’m using a 2016 iPhone SE, and it’s largely unreadable without being very up close.
- cunthorpe 5y ago
  What. Your browser has a zoom functionality that lets you make the text smaller, essentially replicating the PDF site above. Only the opposite of what you say is correct: I can’t read that PDF’s text without turning my phone into landscape and picking up my glasses.
- wlesieutre 5y ago
  To get equally small text on my desktop I have to turn the font size all the way down to 7. God forbid you have readers with less than stellar eyesight. I get what they're going for but the PDF is not exactly an accessible reading experience.
- apotheon 5y ago
  EPUB would beat the shit out of PDF for that. (EPUB is basically a subset of HTML with client-oriented context.)
pseingatl 5y ago
PDF is size-agnostic. There's nothing to stop you from creating documents the size of a phone screen.
- wlesieutre 5y ago
  I’m commenting here as a user reading a PDF. The fact that someone else could have laid it out differently doesn’t change the fixed layout of the PDF that I’m trying to read. There’s a reason responsive design has been a big deal for the last 10+ years and I don’t think the benefits of PDF are worth throwing it out.
  - JohnFen 5y ago
    As someone who really detests responsive design, the lack of it in a PDF strikes me as a feature, not a bug.

Unless I'm on a paper-sized tablet I would definitely rather have an offline HTML file than a PDF. Nobody likes to pan back and forth on lines of text to read something.

Robotbeat 5y ago

I had the exact opposite reaction. I’m reading this on an iPhone SE2020, and I MUCH appreciate reading this in pdf form. I didn’t have to pan back and forth or even put the phone in landscape orientation. This is one of the smallest smartphones you can still buy, and the experience of PDF is WAY better than the user-hostile auto-flow text forced down mobile users’ throats. I was skeptical at first, but I think the author made the point fantastically well.

nemetroid 5y ago
I’m using a 2016 iPhone SE, and it’s largely unreadable without being very up close.
cunthorpe 5y ago
What. Your browser has a zoom functionality that lets you make the text smaller, essentially replicating the PDF site above. Only the opposite of what you say is correct: I can’t read that PDF’s text without turning my phone into landscape and picking up my glasses.
wlesieutre 5y ago
To get equally small text on my desktop I have to turn the font size all the way down to 7. God forbid you have readers with less than stellar eyesight. I get what they're going for but the PDF is not exactly an accessible reading experience.
apotheon 5y ago
EPUB would beat the shit out of PDF for that. (EPUB is basically a subset of HTML with client-oriented context.)

pseingatl 5y ago

PDF is size-agnostic. There's nothing to stop you from creating documents the size of a phone screen.

wlesieutre 5y ago
I’m commenting here as a user reading a PDF. The fact that someone else could have laid it out differently doesn’t change the fixed layout of the PDF that I’m trying to read. There’s a reason responsive design has been a big deal for the last 10+ years and I don’t think the benefits of PDF are worth throwing it out.
- JohnFen 5y ago
  As someone who really detests responsive design, the lack of it in a PDF strikes me as a feature, not a bug.