Ask HN: Why is PDF still king? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why is PDF still king?

14 pointsata_aman13 comments

As the title suggests, why is the PDF document the go-to file when it comes to sharing documents? Why hasn't there been a widespread adoption for a document standard that's more interactive (videos, code, visualizations etc...)?

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Most documents do not want or benefit from interactive elements. The desire is a static representation which renders and prints the same everywhere - and PDF is that format. Everything reads it. Nearly everything writes it. It supports all of the essential functions.

PDF reigns as kings because of the ability to represent graphics as well as text formats easily and ensure that compatibility doesn't break on any device that can render it. It is not the same with HTML, and other media file formats, such as Office docs didn't work on MacOS for a long time and on Linux until recently,this dilemma of having a software but not being able to share the file format, across ecosystems and devices limits the ability of adoption of many other standard documents.

PDF files are effectively the output from executing Postscript source materials. Unlike HTML, there is no need for external formats to render images.

PDF has a proper "page" abstraction. Printing to paper is a first class feature, not an bolted-on afterthought.

A page in an electronic viewer will print out a to a nice and neat page of paper looking exactly the same.

Until someone invents interactive paper, the interactivity in PDF will be limited to "augmentation" of things like filling in forms, that don't interfere with the usefulness of a printed form of the document.

Unlike "Word" documents, PDFs are a self contained file that almost always renders the same, screen and paper. Of course there are exceptional files, but they're rare and regarded as bugs, rather than shrugs as with "Word" docs.

There is such a widespread standard and it known as "html". More popular than PDF ever was.

EPUB is also html, but zipped and sometimes crypted.

One problem; ePub and HTML are at the mercy of its viewer program. What you might see on one device may not be what you see on another.

PDF, on the other hand, can be made to be consistent with every device it's viewed on.

I get all the interaction I want and much more that I don't in my web browser. Non-interactive documents are a Good Thing. Also I like that I can send it to anyone and be sure they'll be able to read it, that it will look the same if its printed etc. And I print myself for some long documents.

For most (or lots of cases), it's easily readable, printable, and searchable.

Businesses want businesslike documents, and mere PDF already has enough security issues. What you're describing sounds far too much like Adobe Flash.

PDF is an alternative to paper.

Specifically regarding videos: Why would I waste an hour of my time watching somebody rambling on, when the edited transcript can be skim/read in 5-10 minutes? It might save the author/presenter time to just record a video. But in turn it wastes thousands of hours of other people's time.

Yeah, I get it, some people can't be bothered reading anything longer than a tweet. Those same folks watch TikTok instead of hour+ long video presentations.

People come in a variety of ways, and with a variety of learning skills and patterns.

Some are highly visual, and learn primarily through watching. The teacher/student model works for them (live or delayed). (There is a vast library of this that already exists on video, on platforms that exceed tiktok. )

Others learn better from source text material. A few good books and they have all they need. The lecturer is "just reading the book" so its faster to skip the middleman.

Understanding this difference is key to creating a good spread of training material. It's not sufficient to "just produce a manual" or "just make videos".

Personally I find some topics work better in visual form (explaining exercises for psyio recently) and some work better as text (api reference.)

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