Comments on: Adobe Acrobat is teh sucK! http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/ Jason J. Thomas' Weblog: Now with more cowbell! Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:18:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Ed Morgan http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-1815 Ed Morgan Mon, 07 Aug 2006 21:26:10 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-1815 Breaking a Broken Tool: Our agency uses Acrobat Professional to mark up proofs of documents before we publish then. Recently, we "upgraded" to Pro 7. It is far, far, worse than the previous version, which was at least workable, if somewhat pedestrian. In 7, when you draw a notes box, it has a sort of exclusionary zone around it, so you can't draw an arrow anywhere near the box. And they've added a new tool, a combo box+arrow tool that is shockingly primitive, looks like it was designed by some high school students as part of a beginning programming class. Plus they gratuitously changed the arrow tool so that the arrowhead is now at the end of the stroke, used to be at the beginning, and worked fine for all that. Do they just have a bit in their source code that flips the sense of the arrow tool around with every release? Why can't this company make a usable tool? There isn't a software company around that I hate more than these guys, and that even includes that outfit up in Redmond. At least their stuff works (sort of). Adobe software is the world's worst productivity hog. Breaking a Broken Tool: Our agency uses Acrobat Professional to mark up proofs of documents before we publish then. Recently, we “upgraded” to Pro 7. It is far, far, worse than the previous version, which was at least workable, if somewhat pedestrian.

In 7, when you draw a notes box, it has a sort of exclusionary zone around it, so you can’t draw an arrow anywhere near the box. And they’ve added a new tool, a combo box+arrow tool that is shockingly primitive, looks like it was designed by some high school students as part of a beginning programming class. Plus they gratuitously changed the arrow tool so that the arrowhead is now at the end of the stroke, used to be at the beginning, and worked fine for all that. Do they just have a bit in their source code that flips the sense of the arrow tool around with every release?

Why can’t this company make a usable tool? There isn’t a software company around that I hate more than these guys, and that even includes that outfit up in Redmond. At least their stuff works (sort of). Adobe software is the world’s worst productivity hog.

]]> By: Baltimoremick.com » Working Hard So You Don’t Have To http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-1547 Baltimoremick.com » Working Hard So You Don’t Have To Tue, 20 Jun 2006 15:30:46 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-1547 [...] I have ranted before on how incredibly slow Adobe Acrobat is for reading PDFs on Windows.  Courtesy of Lifehacker, it appears Dean Wiebe has discovered a way to speed up the load time of a PDF in Acrobat.  Apparently, the suggested workaround is to move all but a handful of files to a different location within the Plugins directory used by Acrobat.  I cannot vouch for this suggested workaround, as I fear the potential breakage on my system of Adobe Acrobat.  Thus, your mileage may vary.  Nonetheless, I do eat my own dogfood, as I use Foxit Software’s Foxit Reader.  It’s nice, fast, and free. [...] [...] I have ranted before on how incredibly slow Adobe Acrobat is for reading PDFs on Windows.  Courtesy of Lifehacker, it appears Dean Wiebe has discovered a way to speed up the load time of a PDF in Acrobat.  Apparently, the suggested workaround is to move all but a handful of files to a different location within the Plugins directory used by Acrobat.  I cannot vouch for this suggested workaround, as I fear the potential breakage on my system of Adobe Acrobat.  Thus, your mileage may vary.  Nonetheless, I do eat my own dogfood, as I use Foxit Software’s Foxit Reader.  It’s nice, fast, and free. [...]

]]> By: Jason J. Thomas http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-707 Jason J. Thomas Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:51:43 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-707 Glad I could help, Paul. A little hint on the FoxIt Reader: slap it in its own directory in C:\Program Files\Foxit Reader. Make it the default app for opening PDFs, and then you are all set. Glad I could help, Paul. A little hint on the FoxIt Reader: slap it in its own directory in C:\Program Files\Foxit Reader. Make it the default app for opening PDFs, and then you are all set.

]]> By: Paul http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-706 Paul Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:42:01 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-706 Thanks for that info Jason. I think I need to add those tools to my girlfriend's Dell. Thanks for that info Jason. I think I need to add those tools to my girlfriend’s Dell.

]]> By: Jason J. Thomas http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-704 Jason J. Thomas Thu, 27 Apr 2006 12:30:47 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-704 Paul: On the PDF reading and creation front, no. They all require some application be installed. PDFCreator essentially wraps a Windows version of the venerable open source GhostScript. FoxIt Reader is just an executable, which is quite nice--drop it on your machine and go. In theory, there will be a PDF competitor in the next Windows/Office version, but I will believe it when I see it. Paul:

On the PDF reading and creation front, no. They all require some application be installed. PDFCreator essentially wraps a Windows version of the venerable open source GhostScript. FoxIt Reader is just an executable, which is quite nice–drop it on your machine and go.

In theory, there will be a PDF competitor in the next Windows/Office version, but I will believe it when I see it.

]]> By: Paul http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-702 Paul Wed, 26 Apr 2006 23:21:22 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-702 Jason, Does Windows do all that out of the box or do you need to install extra software? Jason,

Does Windows do all that out of the box or do you need to install extra software?

]]> By: seadragon http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-700 seadragon Wed, 26 Apr 2006 07:26:53 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-700 Thanks for those links. I will definitely check them out! And as for WordPress, when it first came out I pooh-poohed it as a cheap version of MT. But it sounds like it is actually a lot better than MT from the people who use it. I guess that's another thing I need to look into! Thanks for those links. I will definitely check them out!

And as for WordPress, when it first came out I pooh-poohed it as a cheap version of MT. But it sounds like it is actually a lot better than MT from the people who use it. I guess that’s another thing I need to look into!

]]> By: Jason J. Thomas http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-699 Jason J. Thomas Wed, 26 Apr 2006 02:21:57 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-699 seadragon and epiph: I have found a couple of small workarounds for the clicking on a PDF and waiting problem. One of the things that is cool is someone has made an extension called <a href="https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=636" rel="nofollow">PDF Download</a>. I use it, and it helps with the problem Firefox has. The other problem--speed of loading PDFs within/without the browser is mainly a problem of Adobe Acrobat. The darn thing has so many plugins, it just takes darn near forever. I found a free alternative PDF Reader for Windows called <a href="http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php" rel="nofollow">Foxit Reader</a>. This thing is darn quick, and it opens up PDF files in a jiffy. Installing both of these tools on your machine will help immensely with the PDF problem you guys experience. As for my live comment preview, seadragon, I cannot take credit for that. The theme in use here incorporates a couple of AJAX-y elements I really like. One of the reasons I think WordPress is the bomb! seadragon and epiph: I have found a couple of small workarounds for the clicking on a PDF and waiting problem. One of the things that is cool is someone has made an extension called PDF Download. I use it, and it helps with the problem Firefox has.

The other problem–speed of loading PDFs within/without the browser is mainly a problem of Adobe Acrobat. The darn thing has so many plugins, it just takes darn near forever. I found a free alternative PDF Reader for Windows called Foxit Reader. This thing is darn quick, and it opens up PDF files in a jiffy.

Installing both of these tools on your machine will help immensely with the PDF problem you guys experience.

As for my live comment preview, seadragon, I cannot take credit for that. The theme in use here incorporates a couple of AJAX-y elements I really like. One of the reasons I think WordPress is the bomb!

]]> By: Jason J. Thomas http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-698 Jason J. Thomas Wed, 26 Apr 2006 02:21:34 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-698 tfg: I like the crap that Adobe slaps into your Startup folder. Adobe Assistant: WTF is that and why is it there?!?!?! It is supposed to make Adobe start faster. My ass. tfg: I like the crap that Adobe slaps into your Startup folder. Adobe Assistant: WTF is that and why is it there?!?!?! It is supposed to make Adobe start faster. My ass.

]]> By: epiph http://www.baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/comment-page-1/#comment-696 epiph Wed, 26 Apr 2006 00:34:18 +0000 http://baltimoremick.com/blog/2006/04/25/adobe-acrobat-is-teh-suck/#comment-696 My experiences with pdf is exactly as Seadragon describes. I especially hate it when I click on something that I don't know is a PDF. I know that my browser will either crash or that it will take forever to open it - usually I go to the bathroom and sometimes it will be open when I get back, and sometimes it won't be. I wish there was some way to get this message out there that pdf files suck, suck, suck. My experiences with pdf is exactly as Seadragon describes. I especially hate it when I click on something that I don’t know is a PDF. I know that my browser will either crash or that it will take forever to open it – usually I go to the bathroom and sometimes it will be open when I get back, and sometimes it won’t be. I wish there was some way to get this message out there that pdf files suck, suck, suck.

]]>