Re: Increase of un-usable PDF usage.
On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 08:18:08PM -0500, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 06/25/08 17:33, Mike Mestnik wrote:
> > Over the past few mouths I've received more unusable PDFs then I've
> > ever received usable PDFs. Well maybe that's an exaggeration, but it
> > still doesn't excuse the large number of broken documents in this format
> > I've received.
> >
> > I have asked senders to choose a better format, but they keep coming.
> > Many sites that have PDFs as part of there content do not seam to be
> > having this problem it's when I get PDFs send via email that there are
> > issues. I just got an email from NetApp with a PDF I can't read, so
> > the problem is starting to manifest itself in the form of missed
> > important communications.
> >
> > Mostly I'd just like a forum to complain, but if some one has a
> > suggestion I'm willing to hear them out.
> >
> > As this issue does effect Debian the issue is not specific to Debian.
> > There are several Debian packages that will help, but they are not
> > available every where and keeping these packages updated would be hard.
> >
> > Perhaps I could use gs or something on a webserver, then at least I'd
> > only have to worried about keeping a single copy working. That still
> > doesn't solve the problem of PDS that simply can't be read by any
> > usual means.
>
> You aren't giving us much to work with...
>
Thank you for replying. Please CC me as I'm no-longer on the list.
I'm CCing Ron as I don't expect my comment will be un-delayed
reaching the rest of the list. Any advice for posting by non-list
members?
I think the problem lies in education of the makers of PDFs. I'd like
to just plain see them use another format, but if I can get them to
use software that's better supported then that would make every one
happier.
I'm also not happy with the usage and support of ShockWaveFlash, but
the issue there is much more under control then this PDF problem.
> (a) What DE & PDF reader are you using?
>
What could be better then any copy of GS made after 2000?
GPL Ghostscript 8.15 (2004-09-22)
I've attempted to recompile a newer copy, but the OS(SunOS 5.8) I'm on
won't support it. "File / Save as -> Office 1997?" I'm sure many of
the users will still remember as I do.
I'm sure it doesn't matter or at least it shouldn't. If there are
differences between readers, then that's the problem I'm complaining
about. It's not useful if I need to be using 3 readers to read all
the documents that I come across.
Perhaps a PDF chooser should be written to look at the features used in
the documents that then forward to the correct reader. It would be
better to have a PDF sanitizer that would correct errors and un-role
features that are less supported, but I feel if such a program existed
it would make a better reader.
I would not at all mind having to install a PDF wrapper, that depends
on and makes use of a wide variety of readers. Making each reader use
a similar skin would be a worth-while effort.
> (b) Have you tried acroread?
>
This will not work on many handheld device? As well as most of my
Desktops(PPC64 and FreeBSD). Ohh, but it will work on my Sparc. Is
it text-only for my ssh sessions or will I need to bother with X over
slow links? I'll find out.
I'm using a reader that works on all the platforms Debian works on.
Perhaps if I'm on another platform it's not nessissary to use the same
reader I use on every other platform, so long as I'm using a reader
that's able to open most documents. Maybe acroread should be made to
work on other platforms using virtual machine technology, like qemu.
Mostly the issue is the work needed to install it. No-longer part of
Debian.
> (c) What kind of errors are you receiving?
>
All kinds, usually beginning with "%%". The last error I got reported
that EOF had trailing garbage. Basically every type of I don't
understand this feature, true type font not included, I couldn't parse
input at BLAH.
I'm sure all of these are related to poor software creating the PDFs.
Perhaps I'd like to see there being a black list, so I could direct
ppl to it and either suggest they upgrade or that they should use one
of these other programs that will work.
> --
> Ron Johnson, Jr.
> Jefferson LA USA
>
> "Kittens give Morbo gas. In lighter news, the city of New New
> York is doomed."
>
>
> --
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