

Bringing improved PDF support to Google Chrome - jancona
http://blog.chromium.org/2010/06/bringing-improved-pdf-support-to-google.html

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s3graham
Oh sweetness. I was using this
[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhg...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/nnbmlagghjjcbdhgmkedmbmedengocbn)
but the plugin seems better.

Only problem is that now .doc/.ppt via extension is gone because I had to
disable it to get plugin support. Need a rev of that extension to remove pdf
support, and then we're saved!

Update: hmm, miss regular context menu too.

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e40
I disabled the extension, but pdf's just download... I have 6.0.437.1, which
should be the dev channel version. Windows.

Ideas?

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rictic
You also need to go to chrome://plugins and enable the experimental PDF
plugin.

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e40
Thanks!

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mattchew
This is fantastic news--mostly because of the sandboxing. Once burned, twice
shy--I'm not allowing 3rd party plugins in my main browser any more. But I'm
willing to trust Google to sandbox these features correctly. (Don't let me
down, guys.)

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singular
Brilliant. The idea that loading a PDF won't cause a horrible browser freeze-
up then require controls unrelated to the rest of the browsing experience is
quite a lovely one.

I wonder what impact this will have on scribd, at least the 'avoid pdf pain'
side of their business?

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sliverstorm
> I wonder what impact this will have on scribd, at least the 'avoid pdf pain'
> side of their business?

There's a way to answer that. What is their userbase like, and do they run
Chrome? If the primary browser is still IE (and it kind of seems to me like
'easing PDF pain' is incongruous with people who have total understanding and
control of their interaction with the internet) then scribd will be safe
for... how long did it IE6 last? Probably about that long.

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singular
True, true. Perhaps Google can use this as a selling point to ordinary users?
Though of course a large number of these are going to be using computers at
work which usually means IE[6-8].

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timdorr
The one thing that I've _hated_ about Chrome is now fixed. I never have a
reason to go back to Firefox now. See ya, Mozilla!

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pavs
There are plugins both in Chrome and FF where any PDF links automatically
opens it up using google docs. Much more faster smoother than native PDF
loading. I just tried out this new integrated PDF on Chrome Dev channel
(6.0437.1), and as mentioned it doesn't have all the PDF features, it loads
PDFs on the left hand corner, instead of center. Much much faster though.

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btmorex
My experience has been that downloading + opening pdfs with a decent pdf
viewer is much faster than google docs. I personally use evince, but probably
anything other than acrobat would work.

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riobard
The rendering quality is sub-standard compared to Safari on OS X at the
moment, but I'm really excited there is another browser vendor trying to solve
this problem!

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InclinedPlane
I like this so far. On a few experiments it rendered pdfs well, very fast, and
didn't feel nearly as clunky as reading a pdf in the browser usually does.

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devinus
Looks like it's using at least libtiff and lcms from running `strings` on the
plugin...

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ramidarigaz
Mmmm... Sounds really cool. Waiting on the Linux version.

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sliverstorm
I can't decide if Chrome is leading the way, or pulling ahead, but the gap is
widening considerably.

I, for one, welcome our small round red-yellow-green-blue overlords.

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wyclif
Chrome 5.0.375.70 on Ubuntu Lucid still leaks memory terribly, forcing me to
kill processes (tabs). Anyone here with insight on this?

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sliverstorm
I have been running the dev build for a long time (6.0) and I leave it and
some particular tabs open for days at a time, never had a problem.

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sliverstorm
I forgot to clarify, running the dev build on Ubuntu. I am using 10.04 right
now.

