News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Upgrade to Windows 11. Parent comment

Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by edg5000 on Thursday October 16, 2025 @12:35AM (#45601495)
Generally nobody should exchange Office docs anyway, I find it much more professional to exchange PDFs. I use MS arial so my PDFs made with LibreOffice look immaculate on any device. I think people are really shit for being so attached to their stupid office. I could not sell my dad on LibreOffice though. He'd rather pay 100 EUR/yr than learn to use new software.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by iamtedd on Thursday October 16, 2025 @01:57AM (#45601891)
*immaculate on any device that has Arial, unless your PDF conforms to PDF/A.

Linux machines don't normally include Arial due to the license, and only PDF/A includes the fonts used in the document.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by cl3misch on Thursday October 16, 2025 @03:18AM (#45602334)
nit: normal PDFs may embed fonts, but PDF/A must embed them, and PDF/A is not the default in most programs.

In practice however most programs seem to include fonts in exported PDFs?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by edg5000 on Thursday October 16, 2025 @05:47AM (#45603388)
By default an Arial clone is present, ideally Arial is specified as a valid replacement font in the PDF if the user does not have the Arial clone present (Arial itself is a clone, but that is another story). It would require deeper investigation to see if this is actually the case. I've always wondered about this.

PDF/A has given me all kinds of issues (windows users get incorrect glyp placement with very bad results). Regular PDF has worked fine for me.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by heavyset_go on Thursday October 16, 2025 @08:34AM (#45604583)
Ideally they wouldn't, but they do, so you have to meet them where they're at, which is Office.
[ Parent | on HN ]