On Fri, 22 Mar 2019 13:47:16 -0000, Mayayana wrote:

"Commander Kinsey" wrote

| Why the hell would I want something I can't adjust before printing? I
might want only the top half, enlarged to fit the page, etc.
|

I think it's worth remembering that PDF is basically
a commercial format. It has two main purposes.

1) To print accurately.

2) To provide a relatively immutable document vehicle
for business/commercial/government.

In other words, it's not supposed to let you adjust
it. That's the whole point. That's also why it's such a
horrendous format for actually reading content or
doing much of anything other than printing.

So damn useless then. The number of times I was asked (when working as IT support) for a way to simply edit a PDF slightly. Somebody wanted to change a few words, omit a section etc. Also my neighbour recently (as a landlord) wanted to edit a Council made document to make it suitable for renting a flat. Almost bloody impossible. That was the whole point of the document, to use as a template!

But for official people who want to exchange official
documents, PDF allows them at least a functional
level of immutability. HTML, by contrast, is a sort of
peoples' format. It's fairly easy to learn. There are
free editors. And it's very easy to edit. But if someone
wants to send you a contract or other legal paper,
HTML feels wishy washy. PDF feels like a lockbox with
a piece of paper inside.

Personally, if I want to save something that's mainly
text I save DOC, DOCX, HTML and PDF as TXT. There's
nothing easier to read on a computer screen. Sometimes
with a complex file sporting headers, sections, etc I'll
save it as simplified HTML.

I have Paint Shop Pro 5, which has a decent help file
in HLP format. When I bought PSP 16 the help system was
broken. I had to set it up myself. (Corel wanted me to go
online for help!) I ended up with 2 kinds of help. One is
a PDF. The other is an installable mess that's supposed to
open in a browser. It's a massive hierarchy of folders with
webpages. Worse, the links are messed up, so it doesn't
open from inside the program. One of these days I'll make
a CHM out of it all, but I don't understand why Corel didn't
provide a CHM in the first place and link it from the menu.
CHM is basically an HTML book with index, search and
contents. It's far superior to PDF and it's the standard
Windows help format.

I never use the help system in programs, I just Google. I've used Paintshop Pro 7 since about 1998, I declined to upgrade to 8 because it was far too complicated to use. I recently lost the program and had to download (er buy?) another one. I happened to find version 2018, which works fine.

There seem to be two reasons for Corel making such a
mess of things. One is that they want me going to their
website to see ads for new stuff. But the other seems to
be a close-minded overvaluation of PDF that's developed
among people who sit at desks all day.