Scribd job posting (using scribd) | Hacker News Reader

Scribd job posting (using scribd)

scribd.com

31 pointsaxod31 comments

They should get WebKit running in that Flash widget. Now that would be seriously redundant.

Cool idea!

It's funny you mention that. In flash, text can be formatted with simple HTML markups for styling (tags like <bold>, etc..). It also uses CSS styling for components, although it's a fairly limited form of CSS.

The AIR runtime already has an HTML component*. All Adobe would need to do is stick it into the flash runtime and you could make it work with Flex :)

http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/langref/mx/controls/HTML.ht... )

But can the AIR HTML component run Flash?

you should have displayed it in book mode -- then its a real job posting!

It says I have to download some program called Adobe Flash to view this.

Scribd is great because rather than using PDF like most browsers, it uses flash

The world is still awaiting a good use for Flash.

I am, I suspect, much older than most HN readers (early 30s) and I remember a thing called RTF. It amuses me to see it constantly reinvented. And not improved.

I think YouTube is the best use of Flash.

Do you mean Rich Text Format? It's used by OS X a fair amount. Didn't know Microsoft invented it, neat.

microsoft also came up with XMLHttpRequest!

The point being that a standard format for documents is a solved problem and has been for years.

It's not that simple. You need a format that can represent any kind of document. Good luck trying to convert a powerpoint with complex shapes and background images into a RTF. There are only two formats that can really do that, while being viewed inside a browser - swf and images.

Does anyone want a PowerPoint with complex shapes and background images?

http://www.edwardtufte.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=0...

http://norvig.com/Gettysburg/

Nobody is stopping you from using latex,beamer,and emacs and taking a weekend to finish your slides. But if you want something done in fifteen minutes that looks good, use powerpoint.

I am faster using TeX's beamer classes than fighting Powerpoint's UI.

RTF is a good format for editable documents, but it's not such a good format for documents that need to look exactly the same on all platforms. The format that PDF actually reinvents is Postscript.

The world is still awaiting a good use for Flash.

annoy everyone?

Games? Flash provides a flexible, fast format that makes game design very easy.

The best-of-the-best Flash games really thrive because they're so compatible with things. Kottke mentioned an excellent one yesterday: http://www.playauditorium.com/

That said: Flash is not meant for text. It's overkill. It's like using a tank to scare kids off your lawn.

What about Google Finance and NY Times infographics?

The world is still awaiting a good use for Flash.

I have one! Recording audio and video :)

...and shows documents in a 400px-wide box, so there's space for advertisement on the side.

You should be a VC.

I like their error message:

"Hello, you have an old version of Adobe Flash Player. To use iPaper (and lots of other stuff on the web) you need to get the latest Flash player."

I guess they are trying to say, "It's not just us that wants to depend on a big chunk of proprietary software! It's EVERYONE!"

Incidentally, since I removed Flash, the only "problem" is that ads don't work. (YouTube videos can be played externally, and the ads inside them obviously go away when you do that.)

All in all, Scribd should really degrade to HTML for those without Flash. Either generate images with gv, or extract the text like Google does.

How would they be able to display plain text/images without flash? I'm not following. Is that even possible???

0. You clearly already have a gmail account.

1. Search your mail using a query of: "pdf has:attachment".

2. Select a thread, and click the "View" link for the PDF attachment.

3. Bask in its glorious presentation, with selectable text, using naught but javascript and images.

sarcasm_detector.recalibrate()

"You may have Frontotemporal Dementia. Please see your physician."

http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08%2F12%2F15%2F16...

I guess I misread axod as saying "how would they implement a nice PDF/Word viewer without using a plugin?"