Best way to display PDF files on a website?

[Sleidia]

Hi guys

According to you, what is the best way to display PDF files on a website?

Personnally, I thought it would be cool to use

http://stickmanlabs.com/lightwindow/

but I found out that it doesn't work on Firefox3 and I'm not sure I will be able to fix it myself.

Anyway, what are the other options that will display a PDF nicely enough on every browser?

Thanks!

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

KISS, and don't worry about fancy plugins. Just simply ink to the PDF and let the user decide whether to open it in the browser (if they have a plugin installed) or save it somewhere.

The user is king - don't take control away from them.

Hope this helps,
Dan



Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/dan/

[/tt]

 

[Sleidia]

Hi

Sorry but I have to disagree on the "let user decide" part.
Problem is : you forget that computer illiterate users don't necessarily know how to handle a PDF file.

And too many actions needed on the user side makes less chance for the content to be read.

I thought someone would give a nifty method that I ignore

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

My method doesn't exclude stupid users - they'll just click the link and have the plugin display it whatever the default way is.

Dan



Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/dan/

[/tt]

 

[Sleidia]

Except that, in some case, the file gets downloaded instead of being displayed. And I've seen users who were unable to locate, on their hard drive, a file that they had just accepted to download seconds before.

I would like the PDF content to be displayed in front of the users face with the least actions required from them and whatever system they are on.

I know that no system is perfect but something close to perfection would be great

 

[BillyRayPreachersSon]

Given that for the PDF viewer portion of the plugin you've listed requires a PDF plugin to be installed in the browser and most of these will set themselves up by default to show the PDF, I think that's probably not a worry for most users (simple or otherwise).

Dan



Coedit Limited - Delivering standards compliant, accessible web solutions

[tt]Dan's Page [blue]@[/blue] Code Couch

http://www.codecouch.com/dan/

[/tt]

 

[MikeBarone]

I agree with the general consensus. Link directly to the PDF file but also add a link to the reader (go to

http://www.adobe.com

to get latest direct link).

Most ppl have the reader already so it is a moot point if you choose not to add the link.

-
Mike

http://www.cgiscript.net

FREE CGI/Perl/JavaScripts

 

[Sleidia]

Well, finally, the solution I've chosen is the following :

For each document, I offer a PDF version and a Flash version.
The Flash version is created with FlashPaper and is displayed directly on the page inside a LightBox style window.

Voilà

 

[psymonj]

If a site user is too 'dumb' to know how to handle a PDF, they have no need for the format in the first place. In this case, the page content should be more than enough for them IMO. Assuming this is a case of offering a PDF version of the page they're viewing. If it's a seperate document, surely having a HTML-alternative version should be enough?

Failing that, offer a help/FAQ page detailing how to obtain the PDF file.

Simon Clements-Hawes

http://www.ridgeberry.com