5 ms·

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed. 2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a webs

by jowiar 14y ago

1) From a technical perspective, this is damn cool - exceedingly well done. Color me very impressed. 2) I hope I never actually see anyone using this on a website, attempting to make things "easier." Between Scribd and Slideshare, and Adobe trying to force its hideous crash-prone plugins into my browser, there are already enough people making a mess out of what is one of the more well-thought-out aspects of OS X. Give me a link to a PDF, which Preview.app handles in wonderful fashion any day. 3) It would make a sweet browser plugin on browser-in-a-box platforms and other platforms that don't have a nice native implementation (which upon further reading seems to be the goal).

RandallBrown 14y ago
I think Firefox has been shipping with this for awhile to view PDFs. It may be an about:config value you have to turn on though.
- qxcv 14y ago
  I only noticed it in FF15, but it may have been there for longer. Change pdfjs.disabled to false in about:config (followed by a browser restart) if you want to turn it on. Here's a test file[0] should you wish to test it out. I've been using pdf.js for a while on my Windows box (where it is enabled by default on the FF beta channel) and it has performed remarkably well. Sometimes it's a bit slower than Adobe Reader or messes up colour or formatting, but on the whole I've quite enjoyed using it. [0]: https://svn.torproject.org/svn/projects/design-paper/tor-design.pdf https://svn.torproject.org/svn/projects/design-paper/tor-des... Note that the text in [0] doesn't scale properly, and the page previews in the navigation pane just show garbled text. Usable, but only just.
  - SilasX 14y ago
    Sweet! (It voids the non-existent FF warranty though...) What's better is, it allows the (awesome) extension Pentadactyl to click the buttons in the viewer (since it's part of the browser). Have to click on (or tab to?) to the document itself though, in order to be able to use keyboard navigation on it though :-/
- Argorak 14y ago
  It is included, but off in release versions at the moment. In about:config : name: pdfjs.disabled status: default type: boolean value: false
  - pucinators 14y ago
    I'm no usability expert, but to me it would make more sense to name that parameter "pdfjs.enabled" true/false
    - pilif 14y ago
      about:config isn't really optimized for usability and there's some advantage to the double negative in that the absence of a value could be treated as a false boolean value. So if at one point pdfjs should be enabled by default, they can just get rid of the preference in the default preferences file altogether instead of having to ship one where it says enabled: true (because absence of the value would be treated as false)
  - alter8 14y ago
    Does that mean I can just remove the Firefox extension installed from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdfjs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdfjs/ and then turn on this setting will enable a built-in PDF viewer?
- JasonFruit 14y ago
  I've been using it for a few weeks now, and have noticed that it: - renders very well - is extremely slow on large documents with images, but pretty good with text-only ones - offers a more integrated experience than Adobe's plugin I think it's very promising, and I look forward to seeing it become more polished.
Swizec 14y ago
A few months after this was first shown on HN Chrome started shipping with a built-in pdf reader that looks exactly the same on both MacOS and Linux. I always assumed it was pdf.js
- wlesieutre 14y ago
  I believe Chrome's pdf plugin is based on Foxit
- fafner 14y ago
  No, Chrome has its own binary plugin. IIRC it is closed source and not available in Chromium. Pdf.js is developed by Mozilla and now shipped with Firefox and it works quite well so far.
  - esolyt 14y ago
    That's correct. I use Chromium on Arch Linux and it doesn't come with the proprietary pdf reader by default.
    - hey_lu 14y ago
      There is also a Google Chrome/Chromium extension also provided by the pdf.js team. (It's not in the webstore, though.) I've used it since about half a year and I like it a lot. (Not having to download PDFs all the time and having PDFs in tabs alongside the sites I read.)
      - esolyt 14y ago
        I agree. Separate windows for PDFs is terrible. You can also separately download the proprietary PDF reader of Chrome and use it with Chromium. If you are using Arch Linux, it is available in the repositories.
    - mcrittenden 14y ago
      You said "by default" which is correct but just for the sake of completeness, the built in Chrome PDF reader can easily be added to Chromium on Arch using this package from the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=44148 https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=44148 I've been using it for almost a year now without issue.
fafner 14y ago
I found Preview.app always annoying. E.g., the maximize windows button not maximizing the window. Sure it is better than Adobe Reader. But there are quite a few very nice alternative PDF viewers better than it. And pdf.js is great as a browser plugin because opening PDFs won't disturb your browsing any more.
- thomasfrank09 14y ago
  I agree about Preview - but mainly I just hate having to download PDFs to read them. Most of the time I don't need them long-term.
crisnoble 14y ago
Personally I wish all sites used this instead of scribd/slideshare or opening up external programs. This will just work on different browsers, different OS etc. Plus you can send links like this: http://mozilla.github.com/pdf.js/web/viewer.html#page=6&zoom=121,0,599 http://mozilla.github.com/pdf.js/web/viewer.html#page=6&... To send a user to s specific part of the page. Right now usually you just send the pdf link and have to say, "check out the image on page 6". Keeping the pdf in the browser and accessible to and from javascript opens up a world of possibilities.
- harshadura 14y ago
  wow thats really useful!
- geofft 14y ago
  > This will just work on different browsers, different OS etc. For values of "different" that mean "as long as they all have fast processors and accelerated JavaScript". I tried this in a non-Apple browser on my iPad, which means no JITted Javascript interpreter, and it basically hung. I haven't even attempted it on my smartphone, which does have a native PDF-reading application.
pwenzel 14y ago
How well does printing work when PDF.js handles the rendering?
mistercow 14y ago
>Give me a link to a PDF, which Preview.app handles in wonderful fashion any day. Really? I can't stand that. My download folder ends up cluttered with (inevitably weirdly named) PDF files. Worse, I suddenly am switching between programs and tabs, rather than just tabs, and the two programs have very different search interfaces (and Preview.app's is downright clumsy). Since I rarely look at a PDF if I'm not researching something, navigation and searching are really important considerations. I'm quite happy with the Chrome PDF viewer though.
- jowiar 14y ago
  For me it put anything in my download folder. It opens in the browser in a reasonable, non-resource-abusive fashion. I'm on Safari 6/Mountain Lion, so I'm not sure what version this happened.
  - mistercow 14y ago
    OK, that's new in Mountain Lion apparently (Lion was the OS X that chased me away). I assumed it was the same as in previous versions since you mentioned Preview.app, but it appears that Preview.app isn't involved anymore when you open links in Safari; it just uses a built-in PDF viewer the same way Chrome does.
chrismonsanto 14y ago
I wouldn't say it's exceedingly well done... yet. It is so slow it is unusable on my OC'd core i5, and can't search pages you haven't looked at yet. The last one is a deal breaker for me. Really the only reason I use chrome for my day to day browser is for the PDF plugin. Once this project matures I'm out.

by jowiar 14y ago

RandallBrown 14y ago

I think Firefox has been shipping with this for awhile to view PDFs. It may be an about:config value you have to turn on though.

qxcv 14y ago
I only noticed it in FF15, but it may have been there for longer. Change pdfjs.disabled to false in about:config (followed by a browser restart) if you want to turn it on. Here's a test file[0] should you wish to test it out. I've been using pdf.js for a while on my Windows box (where it is enabled by default on the FF beta channel) and it has performed remarkably well. Sometimes it's a bit slower than Adobe Reader or messes up colour or formatting, but on the whole I've quite enjoyed using it. [0]: https://svn.torproject.org/svn/projects/design-paper/tor-design.pdf https://svn.torproject.org/svn/projects/design-paper/tor-des... Note that the text in [0] doesn't scale properly, and the page previews in the navigation pane just show garbled text. Usable, but only just.
- SilasX 14y ago
  Sweet! (It voids the non-existent FF warranty though...) What's better is, it allows the (awesome) extension Pentadactyl to click the buttons in the viewer (since it's part of the browser). Have to click on (or tab to?) to the document itself though, in order to be able to use keyboard navigation on it though :-/
Argorak 14y ago
It is included, but off in release versions at the moment. In about:config : name: pdfjs.disabled status: default type: boolean value: false
- pucinators 14y ago
  I'm no usability expert, but to me it would make more sense to name that parameter "pdfjs.enabled" true/false
  - pilif 14y ago
    about:config isn't really optimized for usability and there's some advantage to the double negative in that the absence of a value could be treated as a false boolean value. So if at one point pdfjs should be enabled by default, they can just get rid of the preference in the default preferences file altogether instead of having to ship one where it says enabled: true (because absence of the value would be treated as false)
- alter8 14y ago
  Does that mean I can just remove the Firefox extension installed from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdfjs/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pdfjs/ and then turn on this setting will enable a built-in PDF viewer?
JasonFruit 14y ago
I've been using it for a few weeks now, and have noticed that it: - renders very well - is extremely slow on large documents with images, but pretty good with text-only ones - offers a more integrated experience than Adobe's plugin I think it's very promising, and I look forward to seeing it become more polished.

Swizec 14y ago

A few months after this was first shown on HN Chrome started shipping with a built-in pdf reader that looks exactly the same on both MacOS and Linux. I always assumed it was pdf.js

wlesieutre 14y ago
I believe Chrome's pdf plugin is based on Foxit
fafner 14y ago
No, Chrome has its own binary plugin. IIRC it is closed source and not available in Chromium. Pdf.js is developed by Mozilla and now shipped with Firefox and it works quite well so far.
- esolyt 14y ago
  That's correct. I use Chromium on Arch Linux and it doesn't come with the proprietary pdf reader by default.
  - hey_lu 14y ago
    There is also a Google Chrome/Chromium extension also provided by the pdf.js team. (It's not in the webstore, though.) I've used it since about half a year and I like it a lot. (Not having to download PDFs all the time and having PDFs in tabs alongside the sites I read.)
    - esolyt 14y ago
      I agree. Separate windows for PDFs is terrible. You can also separately download the proprietary PDF reader of Chrome and use it with Chromium. If you are using Arch Linux, it is available in the repositories.
  - mcrittenden 14y ago
    You said "by default" which is correct but just for the sake of completeness, the built in Chrome PDF reader can easily be added to Chromium on Arch using this package from the AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=44148 https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=44148 I've been using it for almost a year now without issue.

fafner 14y ago

I found Preview.app always annoying. E.g., the maximize windows button not maximizing the window. Sure it is better than Adobe Reader. But there are quite a few very nice alternative PDF viewers better than it. And pdf.js is great as a browser plugin because opening PDFs won't disturb your browsing any more.

thomasfrank09 14y ago
I agree about Preview - but mainly I just hate having to download PDFs to read them. Most of the time I don't need them long-term.

crisnoble 14y ago

Personally I wish all sites used this instead of scribd/slideshare or opening up external programs. This will just work on different browsers, different OS etc. Plus you can send links like this: http://mozilla.github.com/pdf.js/web/viewer.html#page=6&zoom=121,0,599 http://mozilla.github.com/pdf.js/web/viewer.html#page=6&... To send a user to s specific part of the page. Right now usually you just send the pdf link and have to say, "check out the image on page 6". Keeping the pdf in the browser and accessible to and from javascript opens up a world of possibilities.

harshadura 14y ago
wow thats really useful!
geofft 14y ago
> This will just work on different browsers, different OS etc. For values of "different" that mean "as long as they all have fast processors and accelerated JavaScript". I tried this in a non-Apple browser on my iPad, which means no JITted Javascript interpreter, and it basically hung. I haven't even attempted it on my smartphone, which does have a native PDF-reading application.

pwenzel 14y ago

How well does printing work when PDF.js handles the rendering?

mistercow 14y ago

>Give me a link to a PDF, which Preview.app handles in wonderful fashion any day. Really? I can't stand that. My download folder ends up cluttered with (inevitably weirdly named) PDF files. Worse, I suddenly am switching between programs and tabs, rather than just tabs, and the two programs have very different search interfaces (and Preview.app's is downright clumsy). Since I rarely look at a PDF if I'm not researching something, navigation and searching are really important considerations. I'm quite happy with the Chrome PDF viewer though.

jowiar 14y ago
For me it put anything in my download folder. It opens in the browser in a reasonable, non-resource-abusive fashion. I'm on Safari 6/Mountain Lion, so I'm not sure what version this happened.
- mistercow 14y ago
  OK, that's new in Mountain Lion apparently (Lion was the OS X that chased me away). I assumed it was the same as in previous versions since you mentioned Preview.app, but it appears that Preview.app isn't involved anymore when you open links in Safari; it just uses a built-in PDF viewer the same way Chrome does.

chrismonsanto 14y ago

I wouldn't say it's exceedingly well done... yet. It is so slow it is unusable on my OC'd core i5, and can't search pages you haven't looked at yet. The last one is a deal breaker for me. Really the only reason I use chrome for my day to day browser is for the PDF plugin. Once this project matures I'm out.