[HN Gopher] Interactive PDF apps for technology, engineering, el...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Interactive PDF apps for technology, engineering, electronics and
       graphics
        
       Author : 1970-01-01
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2022-10-17 20:07 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (technologystudent.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (technologystudent.com)
        
       | kwhitefoot wrote:
       | Surely this would be better implemented as a single file HTML
       | document?
        
         | nvrspyx wrote:
         | I think it changed recently, but you used to need a separate
         | app like an HTML editor to view rendered HTML files on iOS. It
         | used to be that if you opened an HTML file in Files, it would
         | show it as if it were a text file and you couldn't open it in
         | e.g., Safari.
         | 
         | It must have recently changed because it'll now render the
         | HTML. Although links to other HTML documents don't work, links
         | to inline anchors do, so a single-file HTML document would
         | work.
        
           | pan69 wrote:
           | I just assume that kwhitefoot means (and please correct me if
           | I am wrong), implemented as a single HTML file hosted on a
           | webserver, just like the PDF document is hosted on a
           | webserver.
        
             | nvrspyx wrote:
             | Down the page a bit:
             | 
             | > They can be stored and used on schools systems and
             | distributed to pupils and students. They are interactive
             | and link to further information from technologystudent.com.
             | _They can be used without an internet connection, as a
             | stand-alone revision and learning tool._
             | 
             | It seems like one of the goals was to make them available
             | to be used offline. It may also be easier for e.g., schools
             | to just send these out to students via email rather than
             | maintaining a web server or under some "resources" file
             | system that some education management systems have. Fewer
             | and fewer schools are standing up their own websites for
             | individual courses and are instead using systems like
             | Canvas, which can make it a pain for an instructor to
             | provide HTML content. They also seem to be targeting a
             | global audience, so it may be useful in countries with poor
             | or unstable internet.
        
       | woojoo666 wrote:
       | What's the state of PDF security nowadays? iirc PDF code
       | execution was a major attack vector back in the day
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2022-10-18 23:02 UTC)