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Just amusing that after all these decades this is still not a solved problem. Why can’t the browser just translate the PDF into HTML and display it normally in
by seanp2k2 5y ago
Just amusing that after all these decades this is still not a solved problem. Why can’t the browser just translate the PDF into HTML and display it normally in a “virtual” webpage? Make it pdf:// or whatever.
- grawprog 5y agoI thought of making something like this once. Then I started to look into the PDF standards and realized it's one of those things that you're thinking, why has nobody done this? Then you start looking into it and you realize why nobody's done it. The task would be monstrously difficult if you want to cover all the things that can be in a PDF. PDF is a beast. It's a ridiculous file format. There's a reason why even after all these years, reading PDFs still kinda sucks.
- jsploit 5y agoIsn't that exactly what browser PDF viewers (e.g. PDF.js [0]) already do? [0] https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/ https://mozilla.github.io/pdf.js/
- joecool1029 5y agoiOS solved this in like version 3 (well more specifically, safari did). For all the bitching HN does about safari at least they managed to get pdf viewing right on mobile. On android I have to use a firefox fork called iceraven to be able to install pdf.js extension to use mozilla's own pdf.js to load pdf's in my tabs. Afaik, there's no other way to do it.
- jchw 5y agoI mean, that sounds basically like what PDF.js is. It’s not static, though.