Browser developers add new features to web browsers all the time. Sometimes those features improve the browser’s usability. This is for instance the case with the native pdf reading capabilities of the Chrome browser. Instead of having to install a third party plugin for that functionality or to download the pdf document first to read it offline, one can simply load it in the browser to read it online.
You may have heard about the pdf.js project. It basically an HTML5 based pdf renderer that can be used to display pdf documents directly in the browser without the use of plugins.
One of the core benefits of building a pdf renderer using HTML5 and JavaScript is that the user experience will be identical on all support browsers and machines. How users access pdf documents nowadays depends largely on the browser and plugin they use, and the sheer number of solutions decrease the user experience and even compatibility due to differences in support features.
The developers plans to implement pdf.js in Firefox to render pdf documents natively in the browser. They are currently working on adding features and optimizing the performance of the technology to make it ready for a prime time release. For now, it has been made available as a Firefox extension that can be downloaded from this link. The restartless add-on will from that moment on render all pdf documents directly in the Firefox web browser.
A click on a pdf loads the pdf document directly in Firefox. A control bar is displayed at the top. Here it is possible to go to the next, previous or a specific page, change the zoom level of the pdf file, print or download it, or load a pdf from the local computer to read it in the web browser.
The feature that is missing most right now is a search option to find text in the document fast.
Firefox users can read more about pdf.js on the developer site. (via)
© Martin Brinkmann for gHacks Technology News | Latest Tech News, Software And Tutorials, 2011. | Permalink |
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Post tags: Firefox, firefox add-ons, pdf, pdf document, pdf.js
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