Anybody else hate PDFs?

scott_R · 01-03-2004, 06:41 AM

The title says it all. When I'm reading, I dont want to jump between "standards" just to read a link/continuation or an article. I know people like them (my former employer was a RIAA junky) because they're supposed to help protect copyrights, but damn!

320mb · 01-03-2004, 07:19 AM

No not really, Xpdf opens these things without any hassle at all........

scott_R · 01-03-2004, 07:54 AM

I agree, but still, they are a bit annoying, especially when you're used to ctrl+num(+)ing mozilla to make the print larger. With PDFs, you have to play a game with the cursor keys to read anything that slides off the edge of the screen.

Greyweather · 01-03-2004, 08:52 AM

I don't hate PDFs, but I do think they get overused.

Megamieuwsel · 01-03-2004, 09:54 AM

My main complaints :
Takes ages to load.
Requires yet another tool to make use of it.
Waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy overused. I even encounter(on a rather regular basis) pdf-files ,that contain nothing but text.(and plain text to boot too).
Propriety format without added value.

Html works way better for putting documents on the web.(IMO)

Imek · 01-03-2004, 10:46 AM

Me and my friend both used to think that Adobe Acrobat (thus, PDF) was pure evil. Of course I've grown more reasonable with age, but I still think that it's supremely annoying to have budget games which come with PDF files on the CD (that take ages to load) and a card saying 'On-line manual on CD'. I like to have a little booklet to read. Other than that, I don't particularly hate PDF.

unimaginative · 01-03-2004, 12:16 PM

i absolutely hate pdfs they are hard to read, their default view is crappy, it is annoying to change every time, they are just not very convient. i would personally rather read a .doc or .txt file

synaptical · 01-03-2004, 12:26 PM

put me down for the ".pdfs suck" column. they definitely have some uses -- preserving custom formatting on a resume, for example -- but mostly they seem to be used by those too lazy to learn native wwweb protocols. they're hard to navigate and view, and you have to open a whole 'nother huge app just to view one of the damn things, as someone else also mentioned. overall i can't stand 'em.

trickykid · 01-03-2004, 12:41 PM

I try to avoid them so I guess you can say I hate them as well. Sure like mentioned above they preserve formatting and such, but I really don't see any need for them unless you have text with images or graphs, etc in the pdf file. If its just going to be text, well, I see no point in making a pdf out of it.

lokee · 01-03-2004, 01:56 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Megamieuwsel

Waaaaaaaaaaaayyyy overused. I even encounter(on a rather regular basis) pdf-files ,that contain nothing but text.(and plain text to boot too).
[...]
Html works way better for putting documents on the web.(IMO)

I totally agree!
Sure PDF files have uses, but these days, people tend to use it for everything, like formated text: why not use HTML?
Another thing; you can't copy/paste, and sometimes you need to quote...

Anyways, I don't hate PDF files, I don't care about them...

titanium_geek · 01-05-2004, 07:12 AM

The only time I would use them would be for a picture intensive newsletter... they are better than a .doc attached(to email) with huge bmp pics.. heheh.
For webstuff I would reccomend html.. definitely. when I see a pdf file result from a google, I skip it.

titanium_geek

davholla · 01-05-2004, 07:15 AM

If you have dial up .pdfs are a nightmare as it takes ages to download them. Why have something that some people can not use.
With HTML almost any machine and any connection speed can use it.

aaa · 01-05-2004, 07:32 AM

Quote:

For webstuff I would reccomend html.. definitely. when I see a pdf file result from a google, I skip it.

Google can convert pdf to html. I always use that. Pdf takes forever to d/l and it drives IE nuts.

Artimus · 01-05-2004, 04:17 PM

I also dispise PDF's. On my system, it has to reload the page every time I scroll down or that kinda thing.

Give me an RTF or HTML anyday...

zekko · 01-05-2004, 05:18 PM

I dislike .pdf files also, I'm sure they're good for printing out, but that's about all I can think of. When I use to read lot's of .pdf files, I used a converter to change them to .html