Converting PDF/HTML to ereader formats

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

- I've only recently 'stumbled on' Word's PDF convert facility.

I am surprised (shocked even) at how well it does with PDF's from institutions like Rand, McKinsey, Stratfor etc - previously I often didn't even bother trying to convert their documents. Tables would end up as a meaningless shambles, sidebars as a nonsensical farrago etc. And the number of styles it creates for a document is significantly fewer than other pdf converters.

BR

You shock me, Red. The few times that I've tried that, it's been an abortion. How bizarre!

Hitch

[BetterRed]

@Hitch - I suspect it depends on how the PDF was created and the creator's skill set. Documents from the institutions from which I source PDF documents are probably created with Word using well crafted templates by professional documenters - i.e. no in-line styling etc, etc, etc.

I've not tried it on a PDF from a BPH; my experience is that PDFs from them, even of simple novels, are often a dogs-breakfast. But how many commercial non-technical contemporary books are published as PDFs in 2017 - very few I imagine. Nor have I tried it on a scanned pages PDF.

I like not having to f**t-a**e around with 3rd party bit fiddling gadgets to create something I can wrangle into Word. A shorter tool-chain makes for a happier BetterRed. And I'm not seeking typographical perfection - I'll scrap things like drop-caps or other embellishments if they create a problem.

BR

[amgoforth]

Best way to read PDFs is to get an Android tablet. Second option is Android phone and use adobe acrobat or moon reader pro to reflow the PDF. Moon will even reflow an image bas d PDF most of the time it becomes readable.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by amgoforth

Best way to read PDFs is to get an Android tablet. Second option is Android phone and use adobe acrobat or moon reader pro to reflow the PDF. Moon will even reflow an image bas d PDF most of the time it becomes readable.

Well, for what it's worth, I have an Android Laptop, a tablet, and a smartphone. I have Adobe Acrobat Professional--and I have never, never seen it reflow a PDF. Not once.

I suppose Moon well may. I'm sure the possibility exists. But I have not seen any environment in which that happens, for a regularly-built/made PDF.

Hitch

[mobama]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I have Adobe Acrobat Professional--and I have never, never seen it reflow a PDF. Not once.

It does when you find the button for it. In touch-screen interface, it's under long press. (Granted, the PDF must be formatted from text, not a scanned or photographed image.)

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by mobama

It does when you find the button for it. In touch-screen interface, it's under long press. (Granted, the PDF must be formatted from text, not a scanned or photographed image.)

Sorry, but even on my Win8 tablet, which is touch-screen, I do NOT see that. So, if you open a PDF made with InDesign, for a print interior, you're saying you can reflow that text? Seems to utterly defy the entire purpose of PDF, doesn't it? Why even bother with PDF, if it's going to reflow?

Hitch

[Tex2002ans]

I assume it would have to be a Tagged PDF.

Does InDesign output Tagged PDF by default? Or does it output PDF/A by default (I doubt it)?

https://indesignsecrets.com/reasons-...tagged-pdf.php
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/usi...ring-pdfs.html

I bet most of the people using InDesign don't even think about it, and just continue to export PDFs without that functionality.

I opened up a handful of InDesign files I got from publishers and went looking into the tags. They didn't exist.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Tex2002ans

I assume it would have to be a Tagged PDF.

Does InDesign output Tagged PDF by default? Or does it output PDF/A by default (I doubt it)?

https://indesignsecrets.com/reasons-...tagged-pdf.php
https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/usi...ring-pdfs.html

I bet most of the people using InDesign don't even think about it, and just continue to export PDFs without that functionality.

I opened up a handful of InDesign files I got from publishers and went looking into the tags. They didn't exist.

Ditto. I tried a BUNCH of PDFs/INDD files, and NONE were tagged for reflowability. It's...nobody thinks about it, for the obvious reasons. PDF is intended to be a PRINT layout (or, conveyable layout) option--so that the content is always the same, n'est-ce pas? If you want reflowable, you make a different file type.

Not spurning the idea of "reflowable" PDFs, but to me, it's round peg-square hole. Wrong tool for the job.

Hitch

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Ditto. I tried a BUNCH of PDFs/INDD files, and NONE were tagged for reflowability. It's...nobody thinks about it, for the obvious reasons. PDF is intended to be a PRINT layout (or, conveyable layout) option--so that the content is always the same, n'est-ce pas? If you want reflowable, you make a different file type.

Not spurning the idea of "reflowable" PDFs, but to me, it's round peg-square hole. Wrong tool for the job.

Well for government requirements (Section 508), a lot of government/academic documents require accessibility:

HHS.gov Section 508 PDF Checklist
WebAIM's Section 508 Checklist

Section 508s "Create Accessible Electronic Documents"

I haven't seen it in the wild with my own eyes though. And from what I gather in communities like LaTeX, even the academics just consider giving alternate formats (EPUB/HTML/DOCX/[...]) if needed. (Tagged PDF support in LaTeX is... not that great.)

The one nice thing about having properly Tagged PDFs though is nicer Copy/Pasting. And like we always mention about Accessibility, Text-to-Speech in a Tagged PDF is much better (ignoring useless text like page numbers in footers or author/chapter names in headers, etc. etc.).

I think I recall watching a speech about librarians promoting accessible documents as well. I'll have to see if I could hunt down that speech.

[DaleDe]

I remember from a long time ago Palm and PocketPC could reflow with tagged PDF and the program that downloaded the file would attempt to tag it if tags were missing. At that time it was very useful and even today it can be useful for portable devices.

Dale