6 ms·

Why a PDF? The PDF is just pictures of things that link to an external site (Thingverse, various blogs, etc) where you find the actual instructions. The PDF its

Why a PDF? The PDF is just pictures of things that link to an external site (Thingverse, various blogs, etc) where you find the actual instructions. The PDF itself doesn't contain instructions at all - just an index/catalog, really.

treefarmer 2y ago
Had the same thought - it's also annoying to update the PDF once links die, so I doubt that'll happen often. I guess it might be helpful if you want it as a coffee table book...
SamBam 2y ago
Seems like it would be a lot more accessible for a lot of people if it were a set of HTML pages. I expect that whatever was used to create the PDF could be configured to produce a website...
- thecatspaw 2y ago
  also on a webpage you would be able to filter it by available tools/knowledge
  - TeMPOraL 2y ago
    Or not. Maybe you'd get "infinite scroll". Or some other modern webdev bullshit that's strictly inferior to PDF (or plain HTML) and CTRL+F. I'm actually surprised by the anti-PDF sentiment here (in general case, not necessarily this book). Modern web is so bad, that almost every day I end up on some page that would be strictly better if it were a PDF. So, to play devil's advocate, PDFs are cool because: - The links may rot, but they remain, and so does surrounding content. Once you get a PDF, no one can take it away from you. - It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection. - It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted. - Rich format without spurious dynamics and other web nonsense. Sure, PDFs technically can run arbitrary JavaScript, but hardly any reader supports that. - Can't track you or spy on you (theoretically it could, in practice, see previous point). I could come up with a few more. Point being, you could do worse, and modern web quite often is worse. As for what could be an even better format, my mind is drawn towards CHM[0]. You know, like the help files in old Windows software. A self-contained file built of interlinked HTML pages, complete with index and internal search/xref. Kind of a better EPUB[1]. (Ironically, marketers should actually love PDF - total control over presentation is exactly what they've been trying to gain on the web all these years.) -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help [1] - Despite being a decade older.
    - larodi 2y ago
      I guess the sentiment is because a) it cannot be automatically reflowed b) it’s a complete mess of a file format with tech deb spanning 30 years c) the linked ressources info Everything else is fine with it and apparently lotta folks write plenty of software to read it. Perhaps epubs (and .mobi etc) come close but they are not universally adopted
    - pjerem 2y ago
      I do agree, especially on - It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection. - It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted. (Btw it’s a sad state of affairs that we can less and less own our files) But I do think in the post here, the issue is that the PDF in itself is pretty useless : it doesn’t contain any information and only links to … websites. (Btw I wouldn’t criticize this a lot because I’m admirative of the indexation work, it’s pretty cool !)
deivid 2y ago
n-o-d-e publishes most (all?) projects as open source, I'm sure the book sources are/will be available somewhere
seemaze 2y ago
While I enjoy the content, I find myself surprisingly annoyed at choice of PDF as the format. It's the worst of both traditional and web publication modes; low accessibility AND low portability
- SoftTalker 2y ago
  > low accessibility AND low portability The two main pain points everyone said PDF had solved for documents, when it was introduced.
  - lostlogin 2y ago
    A growing horror is how Windows handles them. On a Mac they open and work fine, but on Windows they grind the system to a halt. What’s going on?
- nlarion 2y ago
  This isn't the first time I've read a comment criticizing PDF, but it is the first time I can recall the Portable Document Format (PDF) being accused of low portability.
  - seanw444 2y ago
    Yeah that is ironic regarding both the name, and the fact that it's one of the most viewable formats on any given system.
    - deskr 2y ago
      > most viewable It is, but the UX trying to read a A4/letter sized PDF document on a phone is absolutely horrible.
      - sophacles 2y ago
        This is basically the same reason I think sports cars are horrible... trying to fit a 10 ton roll of steel in the backseat is nearly impossible.
Y_Y 2y ago
This sounds like a good job for a fancy LLM. ”For each entry in this PDF, follow the link and give a structured explanation of how to make the thing." I don't know if any off-the-shelf tool is capable of that today though.
- croes 2y ago
  A picture says more than 1000 words
wutwutwat 2y ago
pdf is a common malware delivery mechanism
Waterluvian 2y ago
Yeah it seems like a wrong choice. It’s useless in any context that cannot be linked back to the actual content. It’s a 220 page printable index.
freefaler 2y ago
It's a strange choice to put a PDF with links on a website that contains just links. Why don't put the links on the web site, as the web was invented to be used for? What's the benefit?
saintrain 2y ago
Never done it before, but https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-html https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-html did a very nice job in about a minute

treefarmer 2y ago

Had the same thought - it's also annoying to update the PDF once links die, so I doubt that'll happen often. I guess it might be helpful if you want it as a coffee table book...

SamBam 2y ago

Seems like it would be a lot more accessible for a lot of people if it were a set of HTML pages. I expect that whatever was used to create the PDF could be configured to produce a website...

thecatspaw 2y ago
also on a webpage you would be able to filter it by available tools/knowledge
- TeMPOraL 2y ago
  Or not. Maybe you'd get "infinite scroll". Or some other modern webdev bullshit that's strictly inferior to PDF (or plain HTML) and CTRL+F. I'm actually surprised by the anti-PDF sentiment here (in general case, not necessarily this book). Modern web is so bad, that almost every day I end up on some page that would be strictly better if it were a PDF. So, to play devil's advocate, PDFs are cool because: - The links may rot, but they remain, and so does surrounding content. Once you get a PDF, no one can take it away from you. - It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection. - It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted. - Rich format without spurious dynamics and other web nonsense. Sure, PDFs technically can run arbitrary JavaScript, but hardly any reader supports that. - Can't track you or spy on you (theoretically it could, in practice, see previous point). I could come up with a few more. Point being, you could do worse, and modern web quite often is worse. As for what could be an even better format, my mind is drawn towards CHM[0]. You know, like the help files in old Windows software. A self-contained file built of interlinked HTML pages, complete with index and internal search/xref. Kind of a better EPUB[1]. (Ironically, marketers should actually love PDF - total control over presentation is exactly what they've been trying to gain on the web all these years.) -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Compiled_HTML_Help [1] - Despite being a decade older.
  - larodi 2y ago
    I guess the sentiment is because a) it cannot be automatically reflowed b) it’s a complete mess of a file format with tech deb spanning 30 years c) the linked ressources info Everything else is fine with it and apparently lotta folks write plenty of software to read it. Perhaps epubs (and .mobi etc) come close but they are not universally adopted
  - pjerem 2y ago
    I do agree, especially on - It's self-contained. It can easily be transferred between devices and read without an Internet connection. - It's a file. Yes, it's important to mention because in 2024, files cannot be taken for granted. (Btw it’s a sad state of affairs that we can less and less own our files) But I do think in the post here, the issue is that the PDF in itself is pretty useless : it doesn’t contain any information and only links to … websites. (Btw I wouldn’t criticize this a lot because I’m admirative of the indexation work, it’s pretty cool !)

deivid 2y ago

n-o-d-e publishes most (all?) projects as open source, I'm sure the book sources are/will be available somewhere

seemaze 2y ago

While I enjoy the content, I find myself surprisingly annoyed at choice of PDF as the format. It's the worst of both traditional and web publication modes; low accessibility AND low portability

SoftTalker 2y ago
> low accessibility AND low portability The two main pain points everyone said PDF had solved for documents, when it was introduced.
- lostlogin 2y ago
  A growing horror is how Windows handles them. On a Mac they open and work fine, but on Windows they grind the system to a halt. What’s going on?
nlarion 2y ago
This isn't the first time I've read a comment criticizing PDF, but it is the first time I can recall the Portable Document Format (PDF) being accused of low portability.
- seanw444 2y ago
  Yeah that is ironic regarding both the name, and the fact that it's one of the most viewable formats on any given system.
  - deskr 2y ago
    > most viewable It is, but the UX trying to read a A4/letter sized PDF document on a phone is absolutely horrible.
    - sophacles 2y ago
      This is basically the same reason I think sports cars are horrible... trying to fit a 10 ton roll of steel in the backseat is nearly impossible.

Y_Y 2y ago

This sounds like a good job for a fancy LLM. ”For each entry in this PDF, follow the link and give a structured explanation of how to make the thing." I don't know if any off-the-shelf tool is capable of that today though.

croes 2y ago
A picture says more than 1000 words

wutwutwat 2y ago

pdf is a common malware delivery mechanism

Waterluvian 2y ago

Yeah it seems like a wrong choice. It’s useless in any context that cannot be linked back to the actual content. It’s a 220 page printable index.

freefaler 2y ago

It's a strange choice to put a PDF with links on a website that contains just links. Why don't put the links on the web site, as the web was invented to be used for? What's the benefit?

saintrain 2y ago

Never done it before, but https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-html https://cloudconvert.com/pdf-to-html did a very nice job in about a minute