NationStates Jolt Archive

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?

I hate them too, but then again there's not much that doesn't make this piece of shit freeze.

yes, they tend to inflict a lot of problems on my computer as well

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?
Sounds like you might need more RAM memory. Does the hard disk thrash around during these "freezes"?

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?
Sounds like your family computers suck.

And checking where the link goes, wins.

Actually I like PDFs. I have a fast connection, and its great to see original documents as they were- especially for my research, makes it feel.... 'realer' somehow. :)

Don't buy a eMachines computer for less than $300. That should solve your problem.

You can also try something other than Acrobat Reader to open them. There are a few that aren't so bloated.

My Pentium III 1GHz 256MB RAM work laptop struggles with PDFs.

Oddly enough, this AMD 4000+ 2GB RAM machine does not.

Actually, PDFs always mean good news to me. When I have to do research for a major paper, it's important to get lots of primary sources, and it's very useful to find a full-text research article in PDF form because then it means that the text is presented exactly as it is in the print journal. This makes things easier in terms of citing things accurately.

Unfortunately, a lot of times access to full-text research articles means shelling out money for online access to the journal, which I never do. Screw them!

My thinkpad doesn't have problems with them. Nor does my new C400.

My 3.2 Ghz machine at work has no issues either. ;)

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?
Well, it's not really several minutes, but long enough to assure you that no, it's not just you. PDFs suck.

My Pentium III 1GHz 256MB RAM work laptop struggles with PDFs.

Oddly enough, this AMD 4000+ 2GB RAM machine does not.
And my 1200 MHz, 750 MB laptop breezes through pdf files, as well. Seems like the key is in the RAM.

How do you get by with only 250 MB? I can't run Excel, Outlook, and anything else, concurrently, without going to swap all the time. IT didn't even raise their eyebrows when I asked for more RAM.

Actually, PDFs always mean good news to me. When I have to do research for a major paper, it's important to get lots of primary sources, and it's very useful to find a full-text research article in PDF form because then it means that the text is presented exactly as it is in the print journal. This makes things easier in terms of citing things accurately.
Bah, minor advantages, completely outweighed by the fact that they suck. ;)

And my 1200 MHz, 750 MB laptop breezes through pdf files, as well. Seems like the key is in the RAM.

How do you get by with only 250 MB? I can't run Excel, Outlook, and anything else, concurrently, without going to swap all the time. IT didn't even raise their eyebrows when I asked for more RAM.
Some files I just can't open, because 'system is low on virtual memory'. I have asked for an upgrade, denied so far. :(

Bah, minor advantages, completely outweighed by the fact that they suck. ;)
Dammit, i was responding to you on another thread, and you beat me to it.!

Anyway ...
I'm glad this thread came up for me to share my chagrin.
I hate PDF's. Mostly due what text issues i have in my research. *grrr*

I must insist that the people who say PDFs suck actually mean that Acrobat Reader sucks. Use Foxit Reader instead, much smaller.

Thank you, Duo 2.8 Ghz w/ 1GB RAM.

Anyway, I still hate PDF's. I don't know why. They just seem so... PDF.



Slightly off topic:

I've just thought about it for a second, and thought of all the cool companies I know. Except for Games Workshop, none of them have an A. Hehehe... Adobe...

Some files I just can't open, because 'system is low on virtual memory'. I have asked for an upgrade, denied so far. :(
That's where a lot of IT departments are just so short sighted. The delays cost you time, that loses productivity for the company. Maybe not a lot when you only look at one file, but it adds up.

One shop, where I consulted, instituted a policy of shutting down all electronics every night. What they found, was that the loss of productivity from just waiting to boot the computers, turn on the printers, etc, far outweighed the savings in electricity.

I must insist that the people who say PDFs suck actually mean that Acrobat Reader sucks. Use Foxit Reader instead, much smaller.
How about both?
Acrobat sucks AND PDF's suck. For reasons i've already mentioned.
*happily discluded*

Adobe Reader SpeedUp (http://www.tnk-bootblock.co.uk/software/index.php?type=supported&id=Adobe%20Reader%20SpeedUp)

My main beef with PDFs is that the name, Portable Document Format, leads one to believe that it's easily transferrred from one place to another. A 118k jpg image that winds up as an 11M file in PDF format would seem to make the portability part of it a problem.

My main beef with PDFs is that the name, Portable Document Format, leads one to believe that it's easily transferrred from one place to another. A 118k jpg image that winds up as an 11M file in PDF format would seem to make the portability part of it a problem.
PDF is not intended for image compression.

'Portable DOCUMENT Format' <--- ie, printed text documents. PDF is the standard.

Try 'Portable Network GRAPHICS' for real image compression.

Thank you, Duo 2.8 Ghz w/ 1GB RAM.

Anyway, I still hate PDF's. I don't know why. They just seem so... PDF.



Slightly off topic:

I've just thought about it for a second, and thought of all the cool companies I know. Except for Games Workshop, none of them have an A. Hehehe... Adobe...

I have the same spec pc and no problems with anything so far inc. PDF's.

Why not just make documents as PNGS or JPGs and put them in a ZIP?

I don't like PDFs, even though I don't have problems with them... they're kind of cool for research or whatever, but the rest of the time I just find it annoying to deal with.

Why not just make documents as PNGS or JPGs and put them in a ZIP?
Because that's completely different from a PDF.

PDF's are designed for those people that don't have Microsoft Word or other programs. Adobe made the PDF file format to be used as a universal format and it works for more than 85% of the people in the world (last estimate by Maximum PC [2003]).

I personally love the PDF File format. It loads quickly on my computer (depending on the file size). I have a custom PC, AMD Athlon XP 1500+, the works. And yes, most eMachine's are pieces of crap. Trust me, back in HS i repaired computers that came into the Computer Tech 2 classroom, and i would have to say that 90% of them were eMachines.


P.S. PDF means Portable Digitial File.

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?

I think that instead of writing you thoughts about the subject on this forum, you should have said "read what I have to say about them here:" and then linked to a pdf file.

Bah, minor advantages, completely outweighed by the fact that they suck. ;)
Agreed. They have their place but most of the time are a pain in the ass. Most of the time I just want to glance at some information, not "own" it. Then I have to go through the hassle of deleting it where ever it decides to hide itself on my computer (fortunately it's usually the desk top, but sometimes my computer likes to get cute.)

Of course if I'd buy a new harddrive and move that documentary off my computer I would have an easier time of a lot of things...

PDFs are great. I create them all the time at work, they're useful for loads of stuff. The fact that OpenOffice lets you save documents straight to PDF format is just awesome.

As for opening them, I don't have any problems. Obviously the filesize of the document has a big bearing on how fast it downloads and opens, but it's usually quite fast. Imagine trying to put 70 pages worth of stuff on a website instead. Opera has some bugs with PDFs, especially if you press the 'back' button whilst viewing one, but if anything goes wrong just re-load it and start off where you left off, and it's usually fine. Internet Explorer and FireFox seem to be OK though.

It sounds to me like you're either using Opera, or you're using a crappy computer, or a crappy internet connection. Or all of the above, maybe?

Use Foxit Reader instead, much smaller.
And about a gajillion time less buggy and slow. The only limitation being you can’t fill in PDF forms; though that’s rarely a problem.

Why are programs called Fox just so damn hot?

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?
I hate the bitches!
I hate them with a passion.

I hate PDFs too...but I suspect the problem for me is Adobe more than anything else...I'll have to look into Foxit Reader...could be the ticket to clearing this minor headache of technocrap. :)

If you tweak the way your Adobe (the program that reads PDFs) opens PDFs then you can actually get them to load as fast as a normal webpage.
You can find out how to do that here (http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=11041)

It should work with all browsers, but I think there's an easier way to do it with Firefox (I fixed my PDFs so long ago I can't remember) you might have to dowload an extention for Firefox (to get the easy way)...

I'm very fond of PDF's. At work, my supervisor uses a Mac and I a PC, so the only way to be sure that documents look the same on both is using a PDF, especially considering that Microsoft Word isn't even compatible with itself...

In fact, considering the huge amounts of scientific papers I download in PDF format, it's rather essential for my work. If I couldn't download articles, I'd have to wait for like two weeks every time I wanted one.

I don't have a problem with them while surfing, either, mostly because I've set my Opera browser to ask me before opening them. That, and I have a fairly fast computer both at home and at work.

Cool idea. Yeah, the bitches can freeze up firefox, but what doesn't these days?

My Pentium III 1GHz 256MB RAM work laptop struggles with PDFs.I've had workstations crash trying to work with PDFs. The "small" one has dual 2.5GHz processors, 1GB RAM. The workhorse doesn't crash but does run slow, even with dual 3.4GHz and 2 gigs of RAM.

Fucking landmines of the internet.

Fucking landmines of the internet.
Potholes of the information superhighway...

Potholes of the information superhighway...

...Wait, I'll think of one...

Random encounters of the WWW overworld.

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.
That's Adobe's software's fault (third party PDF-viewing software is much quicker). Java used to take ages to load (especially in the browser plug-in), but that's fixed now - maybe Sun can teach Adobe something about start-up times...

No, they're actually really useful.

Unless I'm thinking of something completely different, and I'm fairly sure I'm not, PDFs work like a charm for me, even on my awesomely crappy, so slow it's running backwards, 6 year old iMac (one of the old-school blueberry coloured ones no less :D) despite the fact that it takes about 10 minutes to load something as simple as Appleworks.

Of course, on my brand spanking new, top of the line, few month old iMac, which is the actual sex in computer form, they also work fine :D Maybe it's something to do with having a Mac - see there's the solution. Come into the light, join us, for we have easy access to PDFs.

I use firefox...

I hate them! They're a cool idea and all, but they're evil and completely freeze my computer for several minutes whil I try to open one and usually it's by accident because websites never give warning. Every computer my family has had, PDFs never open quickly. They always freeze the computer and render it useless for several minutes.

IS this just me?
No, actually its me too. Im glad you made this thread because I thought it was just me. They piss me off more than anything. To PDF and the people who made them I say:upyours:

I think that instead of writing you thoughts about the subject on this forum, you should have said "read what I have to say about them here:" and then linked to a pdf file.
Great idea! here (http://www.doomedtohell.com/whohatespdfs.pdf) is one of page 2 of this thread.

Great idea! here (http://www.doomedtohell.com/whohatespdfs.pdf) is one of page 2 of this thread.
It loaded almost instantly. In Firefox too.

Public Displays Of Fluffle???

:fluffle: :fluffle: :fluffle: :fluffle: :fluffle: :fluffle: :fluffle:

Oh wait... ACTUAL PDF's... um, yeah they're a bitch, not a fan :D