Saturday, July 26, 2003
The Flash Paper Caper vs PDF
Working with PDF everyday I thought it might be interesting to see if I couldn't replace some of what I do with Flash Paper. Chatting to folks, not many feel that Flash Paper has anything on PDF -- but having run through a few real life scenarios I'm not so sure.
So let me set the scene -- I'm not about to give up my PDF just yet. But love PDF as I do Jakob's got a point -- the end game for PDFs online is that you print them. So what, you say?
Well PDF has a lot of very cool features, like notes, digital signing, watermarking and the list goes on. But what do I really use it for? With considerable head scratching I came up with the following:
- sending something to a client, like a proposal or an invoice. I don't want it changing but they need to be able to print the thing
- reducing the size of something so that its not like a bloated file from hell. A screen optimised PDF is just the ticket
- distributing a document across the web that I expect someone will want to print
Then, as the milk commercial says, I'm drier than a dead dingo's donger. I just can't think of any other reason to use the technology regularly -- and I suspect I'm a typical PDF user. Most of us get by every day using just those features.
Enter Flash Paper... It does all of the things I normally need from PDF. So I figure that PDF has to generate smaller file sizes -- a quick test says otherwise:
| File | Type | Size |
| contributors_guide.pdf | PDF | 1,606kb |
| contributors_guide.swf | FP | 1,168kb |
| admin_guide.pdf | PDF | 1,195kb |
| admin_guide.swf | FP | 706kb |
Your mileage may vary depending on the contents of the original file -- but its worth noting Flash Paper includes its own widgets and controls and PDF relies on the Acrobat Reader.
If you want to compare the files for quality they're available online as FarCry User Documentation. While I was playing with these I had the bright idea of putting the table of contents for each large doc inline so users can see what they're getting before they download -- sweet, eh.
I'm not throwing out PDF just yet, but for now I'm going to give Flash Paper a go -- give people the option and see what their response is.
Posted by modius at 12:30 PM | Permalink
Trackback: http://blog.daemon.com.au/cgi-bin/dmblog/mt-tb.cgi/147
I do think Flash Paper is cool, but i was quite shocked when i tried to print the example document on the Macromedia Site. As with all Flash Content it just converts _everything_ to a bitmap, and also will print the background images. For a simple 4 page document it send a 9 MB file to my printer, and it took my HP Laserjet 5something ( not the slowest machine on earth ) at least 3 minutes to print it.
:\
Posted by: Owen van Dijk on July 26, 2003 06:33 PM
I too like FP, but for the first time I noticed it doesn't support mouse wheels. It's a minor thing, but it would be nice if they added it.
Posted by: Raymond Camden on July 27, 2003 07:48 AM
The biggest drawback of FP is that you can't e-mail someone a swf. Many of us might think that you can but it only works if you have the standalone player installed--only Flash developers do. If you're not a flash developer, then clicking on a SWF usually won't do anything. YOu can set up IE to open SWF on Windows, but that's not done by default so e-mailing SWF is not reliable.
Flash itself doesn't support mousewheel, so FP won't either. Would take a new player to do that...
Posted by: Sam on July 28, 2003 08:55 AM
Sam, you can use JavaScript to support the mouse-wheel in flash. As for the can't email swf, that is a valid point. But consider that without the PDF reader, even a PDF is no good. But for lees than 400K you can build a Flash Paper reader that will be able to read the swf files. Sure, may not have the same user base as the PDF reader, but...
Posted by: Nav on July 28, 2003 08:22 PM
Flash Paper is really nice for *exactly* what they use it for - an inline document outputted for a web page.
From my point of view, the biggest problem with Flash Paper is that it does not have any concept of searchable text - rendering the content non-searchable by users or Google. I wonder if they will be able to solve this problem, as there may not even be any text in their docs (its print output, right?)
Yet at the same time - the ability to capture output from any program (e.g. CAD) and have it easily web-accessible is quite cool.
Posted by: Daniel Wabyick on July 29, 2003 03:10 AM
Well I like flash paper because Acrobat Reader 6 takes about a minute to start up on a P4 2Ghz! Given the choice between FP and PDF - I'll choose Flash Paper until Adobe makes a faster reader.
Posted by: Pete Freitag on August 2, 2003 03:15 AM
Can someone explain the emailing of the SWF because my coworker and I have been playing with it and we have no issues sending it as an attachment and opening it.
Posted by: Cynder on August 6, 2003 05:03 AM
Can someone explain the emailing of the SWF because my coworker and I have been playing with it and we have no issues sending it as an attachment and opening it.
Posted by: Cynder on August 6, 2003 05:04 AM
Explanation of the emailing of the SWF:
If both you dummies have been "playing with it" as you so eloquently put it, it's likely that you both have the software required to open SWFs outside the context of a web page. The rest of the PDF viewing people (for the most part--and for the forseeable future), don't and won't.
Posted by: xopher on September 20, 2003 12:17 AM
How do you inset the the swf file into an html doc.
Posted by: Eric Ott on October 18, 2003 01:37 AM
I´m reading your posts about Flash Paper. Flash Paper still do~n´t suport scroll wheel, but flash player 7 (MX 2004) does.
Posted by: cassio on January 27, 2004 05:07 AM
Sam is wrong. Here's the quote from the FAQ: " Flash documents can be displayed by any browser with Flash Player 6 or higher installed. Some features, like text search, are only available in browsers with Flash Player 7 or higher installed." Features includes the wheel scroll, which works fine on 7. At least check it out a little before saying it "never will." It already does!
Look, this is a great solution for those who want to give a doc, without requiring the PDF Reader dance. It's not that hard to offer a PDF link on the same HTML page, where high-quality printing is desired. It all about having a choice to make it easier for people to get to the doc. That's what's important.
Posted by: Cole on August 17, 2004 09:05 AM
I do think Flash Paper is cool, but i was quite shocked when i tried to print the example document on the Macromedia Site. As with all Flash Content it just converts _everything_ to a bitmap, and also will print the background images. For a simple 4 page document it send a 9 MB file to my printer, and it took my HP Laserjet 5something ( not the slowest machine on earth ) at least 3 minutes to print it.
:\
Posted by: Owen van Dijk on July 26, 2003 06:33 PM
I too like FP, but for the first time I noticed it doesn't support mouse wheels. It's a minor thing, but it would be nice if they added it.
Posted by: Raymond Camden on July 27, 2003 07:48 AM
The biggest drawback of FP is that you can't e-mail someone a swf. Many of us might think that you can but it only works if you have the standalone player installed--only Flash developers do. If you're not a flash developer, then clicking on a SWF usually won't do anything. YOu can set up IE to open SWF on Windows, but that's not done by default so e-mailing SWF is not reliable.
Flash itself doesn't support mousewheel, so FP won't either. Would take a new player to do that...
Posted by: Sam on July 28, 2003 08:55 AM
Sam, you can use JavaScript to support the mouse-wheel in flash. As for the can't email swf, that is a valid point. But consider that without the PDF reader, even a PDF is no good. But for lees than 400K you can build a Flash Paper reader that will be able to read the swf files. Sure, may not have the same user base as the PDF reader, but...
Posted by: Nav on July 28, 2003 08:22 PM
Flash Paper is really nice for *exactly* what they use it for - an inline document outputted for a web page.
From my point of view, the biggest problem with Flash Paper is that it does not have any concept of searchable text - rendering the content non-searchable by users or Google. I wonder if they will be able to solve this problem, as there may not even be any text in their docs (its print output, right?)
Yet at the same time - the ability to capture output from any program (e.g. CAD) and have it easily web-accessible is quite cool.
Posted by: Daniel Wabyick on July 29, 2003 03:10 AM
Well I like flash paper because Acrobat Reader 6 takes about a minute to start up on a P4 2Ghz! Given the choice between FP and PDF - I'll choose Flash Paper until Adobe makes a faster reader.
Posted by: Pete Freitag on August 2, 2003 03:15 AM
Can someone explain the emailing of the SWF because my coworker and I have been playing with it and we have no issues sending it as an attachment and opening it.
Posted by: Cynder on August 6, 2003 05:03 AM
Can someone explain the emailing of the SWF because my coworker and I have been playing with it and we have no issues sending it as an attachment and opening it.
Posted by: Cynder on August 6, 2003 05:04 AM
Explanation of the emailing of the SWF:
If both you dummies have been "playing with it" as you so eloquently put it, it's likely that you both have the software required to open SWFs outside the context of a web page. The rest of the PDF viewing people (for the most part--and for the forseeable future), don't and won't.
Posted by: xopher on September 20, 2003 12:17 AM
How do you inset the the swf file into an html doc.
Posted by: Eric Ott on October 18, 2003 01:37 AM
I´m reading your posts about Flash Paper. Flash Paper still do~n´t suport scroll wheel, but flash player 7 (MX 2004) does.
Posted by: cassio on January 27, 2004 05:07 AM
Sam is wrong. Here's the quote from the FAQ: " Flash documents can be displayed by any browser with Flash Player 6 or higher installed. Some features, like text search, are only available in browsers with Flash Player 7 or higher installed." Features includes the wheel scroll, which works fine on 7. At least check it out a little before saying it "never will." It already does!
Look, this is a great solution for those who want to give a doc, without requiring the PDF Reader dance. It's not that hard to offer a PDF link on the same HTML page, where high-quality printing is desired. It all about having a choice to make it easier for people to get to the doc. That's what's important.
Posted by: Cole on August 17, 2004 09:05 AM