PDFlower
Productivity
pdf reader
SHOW HN2017
216points
59comments
#142of 2,242 in 2017
Top 7%of 2017 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
4 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 11 critical, out of 26 comments about the project. Thread score -0.21.
Design: 1 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 3 againstDocs: 0 for, 2 againstPricing: 1 for, 1 againstIdea: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful idea addressing a real pain point
From 3 comments
Great idea and actual pain point. Showing a live or even a video demo will increase sign up significantly IMHO. Also the "get started now" should lead to the sign up page, not…
eranation on HNThis is something I haven't found an ideal solution for yet. There are existing iOS PDF readers with reflow, but each seems to have its own issues. To echo what others have said,…
scivey7 on HNCool concept. This should be built into all smartphones and tablets and automatically run when they open PDFs.
MidoAssran on HN
Willing to pay if it works well
From 1 comment
Just want to comment that if this worked well I would pay for it. Probably up to ~5 or maybe even 10 dollars a month.
nmca on HN
Objections
Requires account signup before trying it
From 4 comments
why do we need to create an account to try it out?
lmg643 on HNInteresting and I might have a use for this professionally. But there is no indication on the main page about how it works (web service? code library?). And it forced me to login…
towelrod on HNI thought I'd give it a try. But... Signup Queue? I had never seen anything like that. Signup Queue Hi, <my_email> * You are on your way to PDFlower. * 269 people in front of…
edgartaor on HNwould be great, if you could provide a guest account to try it out. I closed the window as soon as I saw the signup form..
israrkhan on HN
Uploading documents to a web service is a privacy concern
From 3 comments
Does anyone know an open-source solution for this? What I read is no one's business and I would never used a web-hosted service for something like this.
aw3c2 on HNAgreed. Nothing against the described service or its users, but personally when I'm searching for something like this, "upload" comes right before Ctrl-W for me.
a3n on HNExactly the same here. I won't go through the [maybe] lengthy process of creating a new account to get a paywall then. Same goes with the privacy policy, I don't want to use it…
franciscop on HN
Unclear what the product is (app or service) and how it works
From 3 comments
Interesting and I might have a use for this professionally. But there is no indication on the main page about how it works (web service? code library?). And it forced me to login…
towelrod on HNGreat idea and actual pain point. Showing a live or even a video demo will increase sign up significantly IMHO. Also the "get started now" should lead to the sign up page, not…
eranation on HNThis is something I haven't found an ideal solution for yet. There are existing iOS PDF readers with reflow, but each seems to have its own issues. To echo what others have said,…
scivey7 on HN
No pricing or privacy policy on the site
From 1 comment
I would like a "pricing" and a "privacy policy" link on the front page. Probably won't spend time trying it out due to the omission. Luckily there are interesting self-hosted /…
daphreak on HN
Requests
Provide a guest or trial account
From 1 comment
would be great, if you could provide a guest account to try it out. I closed the window as soon as I saw the signup form..
israrkhan on HN
Show a demo or video and more examples
From 2 comments
Great idea and actual pain point. Showing a live or even a video demo will increase sign up significantly IMHO. Also the "get started now" should lead to the sign up page, not…
eranation on HNExample pictures are kind of small, hard to see the quality of the result. Also, I'd use this for a Kindle device, not an iPad, so it'd be also good to see how it looks in a…
ericmo on HN
Support font resizing and column width control
From 2 comments
Does up let you resize fonts?
WhitneyLand on HNSeconded. I have bad vision; I would love to use this to resize the fonts in single-column PDFs that I read. Equivalently, I would love to reduce the column width to make zooming…
gcr on HN
Questions
Why is an account needed to try it
From 1 comment
why do we need to create an account to try it out?
lmg643 on HN
Is it an iOS, Android, or desktop app
From 2 comments
Great idea and actual pain point. Showing a live or even a video demo will increase sign up significantly IMHO. Also the "get started now" should lead to the sign up page, not…
eranation on HNThis is something I haven't found an ideal solution for yet. There are existing iOS PDF readers with reflow, but each seems to have its own issues. To echo what others have said,…
scivey7 on HN
Alternatives named
k2pdfopt
From 1 comment
k2pdfopt: http://www.willus.com/k2pdfopt/ We use that engine in the OSS KoReader application.
hwh on HN
KOReader
From 2 comments
There's also koreader, which just uses k2pdfopt on the fly.
nattaylor on HNIf you jailbreak your Kindle and install Koreader (mentioned upstream) you can have high quality PDF reflow, with support for two-column layouts as well as math and displayed…
semi-extrinsic on HN
ezPDF Reader
From 1 comment
android closed-source payed app that does reflow: ezPDF Reader
anotheryou on HN
Adobe Reader distribute zoom
From 1 comment
Adobe Reader has a little-known function similar to this. Go to Display > Zoom > distribute (the last entry). It works reasonably well with simple, clean documents. You can check…
saint-loup on HN