PDF is an open standard, except when it's not [LWN.net]

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 9, 2025 5:07 UTC (Mon) by DemiMarie (subscriber, #164188)
In reply to: PDF is an open standard, except when it's not by marcH
Parent article: The importance of free software to science

PDF.is can handle XFA just fine.

to post comments

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 9, 2025 14:05 UTC (Mon) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link] (2 responses)

I tried opening a dynamic XFA form on pdf.is and it went much further than everything I tried before, thanks for the recommendation! I can at least see and fill the form, that's great progress. However the form also shows:

> JavaScript has been disabled, the form requires JavaScript to validate properly.
>
> Please enable JavaScript through Preferences under the Edit menu and reopen the form.

The "Validate" and "Clear Form" have no effect.

Maybe it would work better with a higher subscription tiers? But even if it does, we're straying away from "open", "portable" and "reproducible"...

I also tried to convert it to PDF/A and the output still shows "Please Wait..."

I admit dynamic XFA is unlikely to be used by a scientist. But 1. you never know 2. there could be other proprietary extensions.

tl;dr: beware proprietary extensions.

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 9, 2025 14:10 UTC (Mon) by DemiMarie (subscriber, #164188) [Link] (1 responses)

Try opening the PDF in Firefox’s or Tor Browser’s built-in PDF viewer. Those might have JavaScript enabled.

PDF is an open standard, except when it's not

Posted Jun 9, 2025 16:18 UTC (Mon) by marcH (subscriber, #57642) [Link]

No difference in Firefox, I'm curious why you expected some?