PDF: Still unfit for human consumption, 20 years later

Re:PDF: Still unfit for human consumption, 20 years later by jondubois on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @03:53PM (#24125174)

I don't agree with this view. HTML with CSS can support either fixed or fluid (and responsive) layouts... So it supports all the features required by PDF and more.

I don't see a problem with giving the document creator the option to go with a fluid or fixed layout and make the software default to fixed layout.

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Re:PDF: Still unfit for human consumption, 20 years later by solarmist on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @06:01PM (#24126545)

"Supporting all the features required" and being able to rely on them on most platforms and in most readers are a very different thing.

HTML and CSS theoretically have these properties, but if you asked someone in the publishing industry to layout a book with them they would either quit on the spot or hate you until their dying breath. That or they're a masochist and want to see if they could actually do it because it is theoretically possible.

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Re:PDF: Still unfit for human consumption, 20 years later by tabtab on Tuesday August 11, 2020 @05:05PM (#24125959)

Coordinate-based HTML/CSS implementation is too inconsistent across implementations and versions to be relied upon, especially with regard to fonts.

What are some good WYSIWYG vector standards, including the font department? It could be useful for a GUI markup standard also so that we can have platform-neutral GUI's and GUI's over HTTP.

The server side may still have a dynamic/flow layout engine, but calculated coordinates are sent to the client, keeping the client simpler and more predictable.

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