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To be fair, when the Scribd links were first implemented, 1) in-browser PDF was much worse than it is now; and 2) Scribd's interface was better than it is now.
by _delirium 12y ago
To be fair, when the Scribd links were first implemented, 1) in-browser PDF was much worse than it is now; and 2) Scribd's interface was better than it is now. Over time, browsers got better at showing PDFs, and Scribd got more cluttered and weird.
- JoshTriplett 12y ago> 1) in-browser PDF was much worse than it is now Why would in-browser PDF support matter, when every platform has out-of-browser PDF viewers readily available?
- oe 12y agoOpening a PDF in browser is more convenient. That way the PDF behaves like another browser tab. Opening a PDF in an external viewer could be only one click and one alt+tab more, but it's less convenient and reduces usage. And it would leave one extra file in your downloads folder.
- SilasX 12y agoI can't speak for others, but in my case, "difficulty of use" also refers to "you have to go through all these additional steps just to get to the document". I can't remember if that was only for grey-area, restricted-access postings, or if it applied to all Scribd documents, but I was conditioned to assume the latter by the time I saw them on HN.