PDF files were originally designed to provide an absolute, unchanging layout for documents, created for printing . It has never been prepared for us to read on screen now. This is why it is always so painful to open and view PDFs on your smartphone – like you have severe vision damage and can only look at a small area in a book with a magnifying glass at a time.

However, your bank still uses PDF to send bills, and the documents sent to you by government agencies are still PDFs. If you buy an e-book containing graphics and text typesettings, or a digital magazine, you are likely to receive PDFs. This format is incompatible with the way we read documents today and thus becomes a source of endless troubles.

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Why is PDF still everywhere?

Although the computer world is changing with each passing day, some things are extremely stubborn and difficult to eliminate. For example, companies and government departments are still using floppy disks, just because the systems they rely on are extremely long and the replacement cost is too high or it may cause huge chaos.

Similarly, PDFs are difficult to replace because of their deep-rooted status and several unique advantages:

• Layout Lock : Ensure that documents are exactly the same as the creator’s design on any device, is one of the most reliable ways to do it.
• Offline-friendly : No need to connect to the internet, easy to store and archive.
• Fact Standard : Especially in the fields of law, administration, etc., PDF has become the default format for document archives.
• High versatility : Almost all devices have built-in PDF reading function, which is extremely compatible.

Wait, doesn't this sound like PDF is perfect? Then what were you complaining about just now? Don’t worry, this is exactly the focus of what we are going to talk about next - the pain point of PDF.

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The real pain points of PDF

As mentioned earlier, PDF is created for printing. But now we are facing a variety of screens: different sizes, resolutions, and aspect ratios. PDF cannot adapt to the screen like a web page, which causes you to continuously zoom and scroll to finish reading a page of content.

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Posts When I worked in academia, I had to process a lot of PDFs every day. Especially the journal papers referenced when writing research reports are almost all in PDF format. The only efficient way is to use the second 27-inch Dell monitor upright. This way, the full page PDF can be fully displayed in a comfortable size without scrolling. Otherwise, I would rather rub my eyes with sandpaper.

Another big problem is that PDFs perform extremely poorly in editing, annotating, and collaboration. It's suitable for distribution as a "final" document, but once someone asked me to modify a PDF, I felt extremely crashing.

The worst thing is PDFs that aren't really "digital text" - they're just scanned paper files and packaged into PDF containers. Text cannot be selected unless it is recognized by OCR, and the recognition results are often full of errors and omissions. This cannot be entirely blamed on the PDF format itself (any format can do this), but for some reason, PDF is particularly easy for people to lazy and take this path.

In addition, PDF has had security risks (although it is rare), and the file size may be extremely bloated due to improper production, which makes me desperate to say goodbye to it.

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What is the "portable document" we really need?

The original intention of PDF is not bad. But when it was born in the early 1990s, no one could have foreseeed a scene where we hold various smart devices to read thirty years later. At that time, PDFs were either displayed on large professional displays (vertical screens commonly used for publishing) or printed out. Today, our need for "portable documents" has long gone against the features that PDF can provide.

So, what characteristics should an ideal alternative format have?

• Responsive layout : adapts to all screen sizes.
• Accessibility support : built-in support for screen readers, with semantic structure.
• Searchability : The text is real and can be indexed and copied.
• Collaborative capabilities : Support real-time editing, commenting and revision suggestions.
• Archive friendly : long-term stability and standardization, and humans can understand it when necessary.
• Open interoperability : Avoid manufacturer lock-in and do not rely on proprietary technology.

I know this requirement is not low. If it were so easy to achieve, someone would have done it long ago. But how long can PDF last? Will aliens still read PDF files on residual media when they discover relics of human civilization in the future? Hopefully not. Neither of these happens.

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What are some possible PDF alternatives?

At present, no format can completely replace PDF. Once upon a time, EPUB was placed on high expectations – it would allow books or magazine content to automatically rearrange to fit the screen. However, the effect is limited in reality, and EPUB is more suitable for documents such as novels that mainly focus on plain text.

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With HTML and CSS technology, it is possible to create dynamic and visually excellent documents that are suitable for a variety of devices. But the problem is that this type of format is currently difficult to ensure "print stability", which is precisely the key requirement of official documents. It doesn't matter to ordinary users, but it is not enough to shake the status of PDF.

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Markdown is a lightweight format that emphasizes structure rather than style. With excellent readers (such as Obsidian or web renderer), it can become a powerful document tool. Easy to write, suitable for version control, and readable by humans. However, its control over typesetting and design is very limited, and it is still vulnerable to the PDF's "print first" philosophy.

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For documents that are essentially data—such as invoices, contracts, reports—using a structured format that separates the data from the presentation (such as JSON). It is highly readable, flexible and customizable, but the human reading experience is greatly reduced.

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Ultimately, to get PDF out of the stage of history, we must accept a reality: no format is perfectly competent for all tasks . Maybe we need to give up our obsession with absolute layout control, but more importantly, it is time for those large institutions that firmly hold on to PDF to push this change and send this outdated document format to the digital shredder.

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