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0 pointswtallis5y ago0 comments

> PDF is one of the best things IMO - it's like a docker container for documents. The way the original authors intended it to be, including fonts and all the things that go into making a document.

Sounds like you want the PDF/A standard for archiving: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/A

It forbids embedding audio and video and JavaScript, requires embedding all the fonts, forbids encryption and patent-encumbered compression. It's basically the PDF format with the most regrettable features stripped out.

0 comments

Terretta5y ago

That PDF/A URL surprised me.

Curiously, Wikipedia doesn't think it's a page or a subpage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/Wikipedia:...

MrSomeone5y ago

Wikipedia has subpages disabled in the main article namespace, which makes slashes in article names possible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:TITLESLASH

opheliate5y ago

I think the reason it's not appearing there is because you're looking in the "Wikipedia:" namespace, which is actually used for meta pages, not articles (e.g: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:FAQ).

Searching under the Article namespace (which contains the actual contents of the encyclopedia), it is included: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/PDF

sim_card_map5y ago

We now have JavaScript in PDFs?..

hedora5y ago

Of course. Postscript was turing complete, which makes it problematic for document interchange and printing, so they restricted it and called the result “pdf”.

At some point people realized they couldn’t embed arbitrary scripts in pdf files, so they added JavaScript.

Now we have the best of both worlds. It makes perfect sense if you think about it(?)

franga20005y ago

Oh how I envy your ignorance... :)

Jokes aside, yes, we certainly do, and it is every bit is horrible as you might imagine and then some. I've seen people basically re-create spreadsheets in it, with the not entirely unexpected effect of updating the values taking up to 20 seconds.

cratermoon5y ago

We have for a long time, except it was called "ActionScript", and was used for another Adobe product: Flash animations.

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