PDFView0.14.3

Hi, I was looking for a long time for a pdf previewer like that for latex. The automatic resize feature is especially nice. Thanks for this new app. There are some problems, though. In Texniscope, when a document is reloaded, not only the page is preserved but also a position in this page. It is inconvenient that PDFView jumps at the beginning of the page, especially, if you edit something in the bottom of the page and so, you have to scroll down to see the result. I also was not able to make pdfsync work. Does it work for intel macs? There seems to be a problem with pdfsync in texniscope for intel. In my case, PDFViw does not even complain if the respective *.pdfsync file does not present (and it's presence does not change this behaviour). Texniscope has complained that "the document does not have a sycronization info" in this case. I am on macbook pro 2GHz intel core duo, Mac Os X 10.4.8

Great application. It has everything that i want in a PDF viewer. Its lightweight, universal binary and defaults to a large zoom size when you open documents (unlike Acrobat Reader and Preview). The author has been quick to update the applications with user suggestions (the 'hand' tool i suggested was incorporated in the very next version). Its now the default PDF viewer on my machine at home and at work. Two thumbs up.

Great piece of software. Here are a few suggestions meant to further improve it. 1. Automatic zoom level currently fits the width of the page. Alternatively, some readers like to adjust it to fit the height of a page. It would be nice if the Command-= shortcut toggled this automatic zoom mode between width-fit and height-fit. 2. When I move down using the space key, the overlap between the former view and the new view seems very small (1 line of text or less), which can be confusing. 3. Readability could be greatly improved by displaying pages side-by-side instead of one above the other. The Tofu application (http://amarsagoo.info/tofu) is a good example of this for text files. It would be nice if PDFView supported this arrangement as an option. 4. In the case of a "horinzontal layout" of the pages (see point 3 above), the forward ("space bar") motion could be set (e.g. in the Preferences) to either 1 or 1/2 page (again, Tofu-like). This would be especially useful for documents typeset in 2 columns. 5. In full screen view, is the scroll bar on the right absolutely necessary? After all, the whole point of full screen is to hide control elements. 6. In full screen view, I like that the reader can use various keys without the command-key. This behavior should probably also apply to arrow keys ("Next" and "Previous"). Thanks for all the good work so far. I would donate a few bucks for a "Tofu-like" PDFView.

Yes! Hand tool, woo hoo! I love this app! It's fast, free, friendly, and fairly feature full. However, there are still a few wrinkles that need to be ironed out: 1) With the hand tool being automatic, there is no longer any way (that I can find) to select text from the document. Text selection should be the default action, and the hand tool should be invoked by holding down the space bar (as per many applications where the document can be repositioned within the window.) Or, simply provide two "buttons" to select the desired function. 2) PDFView needs to handle multiple monitors better. (e.g. going full screen on second monitor makes it black, but no document is displayed, and the application has to be quit in order to get the display back. Also, when opening the drawer with the document on the main screen, the window (correctly) resizes to fit the window and the drawer on the screen; but with a second monitor, the window doesn't reposition itself to the fit the main screen. Instead, the window "narrows" itself but otherwise stays where it's at while the drawer simply juts out onto the second screen.) And a feature request: I'd love to have some simple draw and text tools in PDFView. Not to actually edit the PDF, but to be able to superimpose comments, lines, diagrams etc. on top of the PDF and then save it. This would be similar to what Preview does, only with better tools (e.g. a freehand draw tool). Nevertheless, this is a great application and I appreciate it's rapid development!

So you say, but I don't buy your argument because you most obviously don't work in a world that relies heavily on .pdf files for presentations, faxing, professional printing, storage and archiving, securing intellectual property (from the average user), secure digital signatures, etc.,... In other words, the real working world. Your app is probably fine for the student/casual user community out there, but so is Preview and Reader. Does it outperform Preview...probably. Does it outperform Reader...maybe in some limited respects, but for the most part, defintely NOT. Anyway, let's address the counterpoints: "1) it's faster" Yes, it's fater to load, but not is use. Just exactly how fast can anyone read? The human is ALWAYS the gating factor in document processing, so speed is largely irrelevant and has never been a problem on my machines. Admittedly, Reader's relative performance on Macintels (compared to PPC) is very annoying up through version 7. Version 8 of Reader and Acrobat Pro are now in Universal Binary. (upgrade time again arrrrggh!!) "2) it automatically open up at the maximum screen size,....." Just set your preferences in Adobe Reader--which by the way offers a full screen option. They also provide far more control over preferred presentation style and default magnification through the preference settings. "3) about the "plenty of features" in adobe reader: what are you needing....." I believe I answered that above. "4) last but not least: it's damn simple and friendly to be used;...." Of course it's simpler. It has less functionality. The reviews just came on way too strong. It almost read like a developer (or friends) logged in with different user names to pump up the app. They just lacked a certain amount of objectivity. That's what set me off in the first place. Don't get me wrong, I applaud anybody that makes an effort to help make Macs more usable, to as wide a range of people as possible, especially when they offer it without charge. However, many of us rely on objective reviews in here, and this thread just smacked of developer bias. It's not some breakthrough app. It's just another "me too app", and its over-glowing, almost hyperbolic representation here didn't sound at all objective. I think that the description in the opening page on MacUpdate, and on the developer's website was terrific and accurate. It's the reviews that were over the top. More objective reviews would call this a "simple" PDF viewer, with certain advantages over Preview while not attempting to portray it as the be all, end all, of PDF readers. There are other alternatives without the shortcomings of this one. It's a disservice to everyone when reviews lack objectivity. Let the users decide...download a copy of Reader for Mac. I have no doubt that its compatibility (particularly with graphics and web) and feature list will persuade those out there that actually do need an industrial strength PDF reader. Also, when we post a review, please let's try to keep it objective, truthful and helpful for others. Tell uswhat apps you're comparing against. Tell us about your platform and software versions. Tell us the pros and the cons. Once in a while we actually see an app that really does merit rave reviews, but that's almost never the case with "me too" apps. Thanks for "listening".

It seems like since it's just a one-trick pony, why not just make it an "add-on" or patch for Preview, instead of a whole app? Just a thought.