Why do so many people use/care about PDF?

chyron8472 · 02-20-2011, 12:02 PM

Why is it that so many people want to use PDF's on their ebook readers? It's my understanding that they're so specifically designed to appear a certain way per page. whereas ebook readers, by their very nature, are very fluid in how they can format books.

In fact, I know of more than one family member who takes documents and and converts them to PDF before sending to BN or Amazon (depending on the reader) to be converted to a proper format. Meanwhile, the Calibre manual says explicitly how terrible PDF is to convert from and why.

Why do people care about PDF so much?

jeromedevine · 02-20-2011, 12:06 PM

Pdf is cool.

Tiersten · 02-20-2011, 12:07 PM

Sometimes you don't get a choice about what file format your documents or books come in. I know I've got quite a few technical manuals and documents that are PDF only and its a bit annoying to read on the Kindle. I only leave them on there as a last resort type thing.

sirmaru · 02-20-2011, 01:02 PM

I read a lot of manuals in PDF format for games and gadgets. However, I read them using Adoobe Reader 9 on my PC. I wouldn't dream of placing them on an eReader.

rcuadro · 02-20-2011, 01:35 PM

A lot of my school text books are PDF only...

stickybuns · 02-20-2011, 02:06 PM

Academic and scientific journals are published in PDF form 99.9% of the time.

chamekke · 02-20-2011, 02:37 PM

I dislike PDF, but I have a whack of user manuals that are in that format, and I'm always misplacing the printed copies. It's handy to keep these PDFs on my Kindle (duly segregated into a collection) for emergency situations :-)

Giggleton · 02-20-2011, 03:31 PM

Ughh! for PDF's on baby Kindle. There's so many books that I want to read but just can't bring myself too since they are PDF and don't look or convert right to a reflowable format.

I suppose I'll buy a big boy Kindle next since I suspect they can handle PDF's better with the larger screen, does anyone read PDF's on the larger screen? And have thoughts on the matter?

SkyDream · 02-20-2011, 03:35 PM

Too many books (especially older ones) are available as pdf only. Converting them to epub or mobi destroys formatting. ever tried to convert pdf-tables to epub ?

KecajN · 02-20-2011, 05:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Giggleton

I suppose I'll buy a big boy Kindle next since I suspect they can handle PDF's better with the larger screen, does anyone read PDF's on the larger screen? And have thoughts on the matter?

I have bought Kindle DXG to read my hundreds manuals, whitepapers, tech reports, etc. available only in PDF (currently 800+, half more are still waiting for upload). Kindle DXG has a decent large screen so one can read PDFs without any problem. But Kindle DXG PDF support is extremely limited (worse than Kindle 3!) - you get only equivalent of sheet of paper. No links, ToC, indexes, etc. Also dictionary, T2S and annotations are not available. If you need to store hundreds of PDFs you will have a lot of troubles with organizing them - there is no content management at all (Collections are almost unusable, you may use some external software made by Kindle users, search the forum for collection manager, but it is poor workaround rather than a solution).

Amazon made excellent piece of hardware for PDF reading but bundled it with useless firmware and sold at high price.

Ak Mike · 02-20-2011, 05:35 PM

I use my Kindle DX mostly to read scanned 8 1/2 X 11 pages. That necessarily means PDF. My idea is to reduce the paper on my desk, so I look at the document in the Kindle while I work on Word on my computer screen. I can also look through the documents when I'm away from my office without having to haul a huge briefcase.

cmdahler · 02-20-2011, 06:17 PM

I have a collection of books that I enjoy reading over and over (Lord of the Rings, Count of Monte Cristo, etc). With books like that, I like having the text appear professionally typeset, which simply isn't possible with ePub. I take the text of these books and import it into Indesign and fix it up just right, and then export it to a PDF that is designed for the exact size of my reader's screen. For that book, then, I have as near to a perfect copy as I can find. It's work, and I wouldn't go to that length for some dumb Dan Brown barely-readable thing that I'm certainly only going to read once, but for those comfort classics that I return to time and again, it's definitely worth the effort and in the end is the only viable solution for good typesetting.

Histerius · 02-20-2011, 07:08 PM

Speaking from decades long experience, when it's just text PDF is meaningless. It's overkill. It makes sense if you are sending files to printing house or for technical/scientific/complex stuff, but for clean text it's like building a rocket for going to grocery store. Unfortunately, that rocket is very easy to build: just print "Save as PDF" and that's it. In the other hand, ordinary user doesn't use OCR software, so scanned pages are again easy to save as PDF. That's why PDF is so popular.

Regarding book-eBook relationship, eReaders have their limitations. In PDF you are have a book that will be printed with all fonts, design, layout and other things that eReaders just don't have yet. So, if somebody can't live without professionaly made book with all elements that naturally appear in printed books - then buy a printed book. eReaders are different technology with all pluses and minuses and we must accept that. Maybe one day we will be able to do complex formatting with eBooks format but today we can't.

And to conclude, as a professional who worked in a range of publishing houses and newspapers, I honestly don't care if Platon or Monte Cristo is set in Garamond or Times, I am reading the story on my Kindle, not looking at the design. When I want to study book design I get a printed book.

Sorry for a bit longer post.

DiapDealer · 02-20-2011, 07:15 PM

I don't care about pdf. Pdf could be lying in a ditch dead somewhere, and I wouldn't care. If Pdf's guts were on fire, I wouldn't pis -- well, you get the idea.

Dava · 02-20-2011, 07:28 PM

I have to read alot of scientific articles for school and they almost always are in PDF-format. But fortuntly they often reflows quite nicely.

02-20-2011, 12:02 PM	#1
chyron8472 Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 558490 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle 5, Amazon Fire 5th Gen, Moto Z Play Droid	Why do so many people use/care about PDF? Why is it that so many people want to use PDF's on their ebook readers? It's my understanding that they're so specifically designed to appear a certain way per page. whereas ebook readers, by their very nature, are very fluid in how they can format books. In fact, I know of more than one family member who takes documents and and converts them to PDF before sending to BN or Amazon (depending on the reader) to be converted to a proper format. Meanwhile, the Calibre manual says explicitly how terrible PDF is to convert from and why. Why do people care about PDF so much?

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02-20-2011, 12:06 PM	#2
jeromedevine Zealot Posts: 110 Karma: 240 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: Kindle 3 3G Graphite, Sony PRS-505	Pdf is cool.

02-20-2011, 12:07 PM	#3
Tiersten Guru Posts: 987 Karma: 8641 Join Date: Sep 2010 Device: Kindle 3G+WiFi	Sometimes you don't get a choice about what file format your documents or books come in. I know I've got quite a few technical manuals and documents that are PDF only and its a bit annoying to read on the Kindle. I only leave them on there as a last resort type thing.

02-20-2011, 01:02 PM	#4
sirmaru Wizard Posts: 2,426 Karma: 6561538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Device: Kindle PW 2013, HDX 2013, Galaxy S5 2014	I read a lot of manuals in PDF format for games and gadgets. However, I read them using Adoobe Reader 9 on my PC. I wouldn't dream of placing them on an eReader.

02-20-2011, 01:35 PM	#5
rcuadro Wizard Posts: 1,686 Karma: 874275 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Virginia Beach, VA Device: Kindle DX	A lot of my school text books are PDF only...

02-20-2011, 02:06 PM	#6
stickybuns Evangelist Posts: 405 Karma: 479729 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Kindle 3, Kindle Paperwhite 2	Academic and scientific journals are published in PDF form 99.9% of the time.

02-20-2011, 02:37 PM	#7
chamekke Groupie Posts: 190 Karma: 13510 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Canada Device: Kindle 3 Wi-Fi	I dislike PDF, but I have a whack of user manuals that are in that format, and I'm always misplacing the printed copies. It's handy to keep these PDFs on my Kindle (duly segregated into a collection) for emergency situations :-)

02-20-2011, 03:31 PM	#8
Giggleton Banned Posts: 1,687 Karma: 4368191 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Oregon Device: Kindle3	Ughh! for PDF's on baby Kindle. There's so many books that I want to read but just can't bring myself too since they are PDF and don't look or convert right to a reflowable format. I suppose I'll buy a big boy Kindle next since I suspect they can handle PDF's better with the larger screen, does anyone read PDF's on the larger screen? And have thoughts on the matter?

02-20-2011, 03:35 PM	#9
SkyDream Wizard Posts: 1,377 Karma: 9400 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Europe Device: PRS-650, iPod touch 4G, iPad 3	Too many books (especially older ones) are available as pdf only. Converting them to epub or mobi destroys formatting. ever tried to convert pdf-tables to epub ?

02-20-2011, 05:35 PM	#11
Ak Mike Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 105 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Alaska Device: Kindle DX; Motorola Xoom	I use my Kindle DX mostly to read scanned 8 1/2 X 11 pages. That necessarily means PDF. My idea is to reduce the paper on my desk, so I look at the document in the Kindle while I work on Word on my computer screen. I can also look through the documents when I'm away from my office without having to haul a huge briefcase.

02-20-2011, 06:17 PM	#12
cmdahler Addict Posts: 292 Karma: 24688 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad	I have a collection of books that I enjoy reading over and over (Lord of the Rings, Count of Monte Cristo, etc). With books like that, I like having the text appear professionally typeset, which simply isn't possible with ePub. I take the text of these books and import it into Indesign and fix it up just right, and then export it to a PDF that is designed for the exact size of my reader's screen. For that book, then, I have as near to a perfect copy as I can find. It's work, and I wouldn't go to that length for some dumb Dan Brown barely-readable thing that I'm certainly only going to read once, but for those comfort classics that I return to time and again, it's definitely worth the effort and in the end is the only viable solution for good typesetting.

02-20-2011, 07:08 PM	#13
Histerius Zealot Posts: 126 Karma: 7922 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Zagreb, Croatia Device: Kindle 3 - Galaxy Tab 10.1	Speaking from decades long experience, when it's just text PDF is meaningless. It's overkill. It makes sense if you are sending files to printing house or for technical/scientific/complex stuff, but for clean text it's like building a rocket for going to grocery store. Unfortunately, that rocket is very easy to build: just print "Save as PDF" and that's it. In the other hand, ordinary user doesn't use OCR software, so scanned pages are again easy to save as PDF. That's why PDF is so popular. Regarding book-eBook relationship, eReaders have their limitations. In PDF you are have a book that will be printed with all fonts, design, layout and other things that eReaders just don't have yet. So, if somebody can't live without professionaly made book with all elements that naturally appear in printed books - then buy a printed book. eReaders are different technology with all pluses and minuses and we must accept that. Maybe one day we will be able to do complex formatting with eBooks format but today we can't. And to conclude, as a professional who worked in a range of publishing houses and newspapers, I honestly don't care if Platon or Monte Cristo is set in Garamond or Times, I am reading the story on my Kindle, not looking at the design. When I want to study book design I get a printed book. Sorry for a bit longer post.

02-20-2011, 07:15 PM	#14
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,891 Karma: 207182180 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I don't care about pdf. Pdf could be lying in a ditch dead somewhere, and I wouldn't care. If Pdf's guts were on fire, I wouldn't pis -- well, you get the idea.

02-20-2011, 07:28 PM	#15
Dava Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Sweden Device: Samsung Galaxy I5700 Spica, Kindle 3	I have to read alot of scientific articles for school and they almost always are in PDF-format. But fortuntly they often reflows quite nicely.