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I think you have the wrong model for apps. Doing one thing is almost always having the full document CRUD loop. Once you have a pdf viewer users want rotating
by data-ottawa 1y ago
I think you have the wrong model for apps. Doing one thing is almost always having the full document CRUD loop.
Once you have a pdf viewer users want rotating pages, then bookmarks, then highlights, then form filling, etc.
That “just a pdf reader” is strictly worse than every pdf editor (which have to meet the minimum requirement of a pdf reader).
Apple’s Automator and Preview combo for me are indispensible and perfectly follow the Unix ideal. Automator composes well, and Preview does all the pdf editing well, and together they’re excellent software.
The version of Preview Apple just released on iPad is however basically just a reader, and do it hasn’t made itself relevant to any of my workflows or needs.
Full featured plus composable. That’s the sweet spot for the best apps.
Side note: I’m surprised there’s no ffmeg or imagemagik for pdfs (maybe there is?). Someone should build that.
- OkayPhysicist 1y agoAn under-explored integration type, IMO, is the concept of interchangeable parts. I like having an integrated PDF reader inside my browser. Problem is, my external pdf-reader is substantially better than the pdf reader in my browser. Wouldn't it be nice if I could embed the external reader, replacing my browser's reader? Or one that I've actually hacked into a few contexts already: What if every multi-line text field could be replaced by a neovim buffer?
- mjochim 1y agoThere is pdftk. https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/ https://www.pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-server/