OT: PC World are useless - was Re: [Gllug] OT: microdirect.co.ukreliable?

[Mike Brodbelt]

On Tue, 2005-01-18 at 23:01 +0000, Tethys wrote:
> Mike Brodbelt writes:
> 
> >Acrobat reader does provide a nice mechanism where you fill in the
> >form, and when you click submit it does an HTTP POST of all the form
> >fields, but there you run the risk of someone downloading the form
> >at work, taking it home, filling it in and then clicking submit on a
> >non-internet connected computer....
> 
> To be fair, where would they be expecting to submit it if the machine
> wasn't connected to the net?

Oh, they don't actually think about *how* it might work. If it ever
crosses their minds, I think they assume it's powered entirely by magic.
For internal use, one can educate people, but distributing these things
to the unwashed masses is an exercise in futility. At least with forms
that they can only open with a web browser, they expect to need an
internet connection...

> I agree that PDF forms aren't perfect, but many of the failings are
> due to limitations within the Acrobat Reader software, rather than
> with the file format, and hence are relatively easily corrected,
> should Adobe have the appetite to do so (or indeed, should a third
> party write a fully featured reader).

Some of the "additional" pdf features are gradually appearing in xpdf -
that one seems to be the most developed at the moment. I'd love to see
it brought up to the same level as Acrobat though - you can in theory do
a lot with PDF that isn't being done much at the moment. Open source PDF
generators need to get a bit better, but the "save as PDF" feature in
OpenOffice is a real carrot for users. I've had a few converts aided by
that.

Mike.

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