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Pdfs open in Firefox just fine. So I presume your emphasis is on only. Are there any features in a pdf that lock it to Adobe reader? Is anyone (govt? ) using t

Pdfs open in Firefox just fine. So I presume your emphasis is on only. Are there any features in a pdf that lock it to Adobe reader? Is anyone (govt? ) using that feature.

josephcsible 5y ago
Some PDFs really don't work at all except in Acrobat. One example is USCIS form I-9: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9...
- tyingq 5y ago
  Interesting. Does not open right in Chrome, but is opening with Firefox for me.
  - nybble41 5y ago
    The I-9 form an XFA application, not something anyone sane would recognize as a proper PDF. It's all JavaScript and XML-based forms stored as opaque streams inside a PDF container and has almost nothing in common with standard PDF files beyond the container format. It works in Mozilla because Mozilla's pdf.js supports XFA as of Firefox release 91. Most PDF readers do not support XFA, which is quite reasonable considering its rarity and the fact that it has been deprecated for several years. An HTML form would have been a far better fit for this purpose.
kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
JavaScript for form entry even though PDF already has an older form mechanism.
nonameiguess 5y ago
Lots. My wife and I are in the process of trying to become licensed as foster/adoptive parents in the state of Texas and quite a bit of the paperwork we have had to fill out will open fine in a browser, but can only be edited in Adobe Reader. I just had to fill out a form to get a new common access card to work as a federal contractor for the US DoD and it wasn't possible to save edits to the form except with Adobe Reader Pro. Even the free version of Adobe didn't work. I could read the form fine, but if I can't fill it out, I can't submit it. A lot of this is just issues with skeuomorphism. There is little reason any of these workflows need to use pdfs at all, except that it represents a smaller feeling change from the legacy paper workflows compared to migrating to a purely web-based workflow that uses html forms instead of editable pdfs. Heck, I think I remember the FAFSA being fully html-based forms over 15 years ago when I first went to grad school, but I'm not totally sure.

Pdfs open in Firefox just fine. So I presume your emphasis is on only. Are there any features in a pdf that lock it to Adobe reader? Is anyone (govt? ) using that feature.

josephcsible 5y ago

Some PDFs really don't work at all except in Acrobat. One example is USCIS form I-9: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9.pdf https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9...

tyingq 5y ago
Interesting. Does not open right in Chrome, but is opening with Firefox for me.
- nybble41 5y ago
  The I-9 form an XFA application, not something anyone sane would recognize as a proper PDF. It's all JavaScript and XML-based forms stored as opaque streams inside a PDF container and has almost nothing in common with standard PDF files beyond the container format. It works in Mozilla because Mozilla's pdf.js supports XFA as of Firefox release 91. Most PDF readers do not support XFA, which is quite reasonable considering its rarity and the fact that it has been deprecated for several years. An HTML form would have been a far better fit for this purpose.

kevin_thibedeau 5y ago

JavaScript for form entry even though PDF already has an older form mechanism.

nonameiguess 5y ago

Lots. My wife and I are in the process of trying to become licensed as foster/adoptive parents in the state of Texas and quite a bit of the paperwork we have had to fill out will open fine in a browser, but can only be edited in Adobe Reader. I just had to fill out a form to get a new common access card to work as a federal contractor for the US DoD and it wasn't possible to save edits to the form except with Adobe Reader Pro. Even the free version of Adobe didn't work. I could read the form fine, but if I can't fill it out, I can't submit it. A lot of this is just issues with skeuomorphism. There is little reason any of these workflows need to use pdfs at all, except that it represents a smaller feeling change from the legacy paper workflows compared to migrating to a purely web-based workflow that uses html forms instead of editable pdfs. Heck, I think I remember the FAFSA being fully html-based forms over 15 years ago when I first went to grad school, but I'm not totally sure.