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Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing

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  Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2021-03-01 11:50 +0100
    Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing "Alexander V. Makartsev" <avbetev@gmail.com> - 2021-03-01 13:30 +0100
      Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2021-03-01 14:00 +0100
        Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Nate Bargmann <n0nb@n0nb.us> - 2021-03-01 15:00 +0100
    Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Celejar <celejar@gmail.com> - 2021-03-01 14:00 +0100
      Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2021-03-01 15:00 +0100
    Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Dan Ritter <dsr@randomstring.org> - 2021-03-01 14:10 +0100
      Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2021-03-01 14:20 +0100
        Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> - 2021-03-01 16:20 +0100
    Re: Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> - 2021-03-01 17:40 +0100

#232229 — Problem converting manual in PDF to HTML for on screen viewing

A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.
Due to vision problems I wish to convert it to HTML for onscreen viewing.

pdf2htmlEX is an inappropriate tool as it is too focused on maintaining 
format of original. Its rigidity results in a fixed number of 
*characters* per line irregardless of chosen font size. As there is 
nothing formatted as a table, this restriction is inappropriate.

The only relevant links in the document are from the "Table of Contents" 
to the appropriate section. pdf2htmlEX *IGNORES* them!

A suggested tool?
TIA

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#232231

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On 01.03.2021 15:44, Richard Owlett wrote:
> A suggested tool?
I can't suggest a converter, but maybe sane PDF viewer, like "evince", 
will solve your problems.
It can change font size, page layout and has other useful capabilities 
like index\bookmarks and text search.
For me reading documents in PDFs is much more convenient than in clunky 
html pages.

-- 
With kindest regards, Alexander.

⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁ Debian - The universal operating system
⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀ https://www.debian.org
⠈⠳⣄⠀⠀⠀⠀

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#232232

On 03/01/2021 06:22 AM, Alexander V. Makartsev wrote:
> On 01.03.2021 15:44, Richard Owlett wrote:
>> A suggested tool?
> I can't suggest a converter, but maybe sane PDF viewer, like "evince", 
> will solve your problems.
> It can change font size, page layout and has other useful capabilities 
> like index\bookmarks and text search.
> For me reading documents in PDFs is much more convenient than in clunky 
> html pages.
> 

That is on my system but the available "Help" says nothing about the 
options you mentioned.
That may be because I'm using the MATE desktop. I've had "Help" 
weirdness on other programs IIRC.

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#232240

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* On 2021 01 Mar 06:55 -0600, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 03/01/2021 06:22 AM, Alexander V. Makartsev wrote:
> > On 01.03.2021 15:44, Richard Owlett wrote:
> > > A suggested tool?
> > I can't suggest a converter, but maybe sane PDF viewer, like "evince",
> > will solve your problems.
> > It can change font size, page layout and has other useful capabilities
> > like index\bookmarks and text search.
> > For me reading documents in PDFs is much more convenient than in clunky
> > html pages.
> > 
> 
> That is on my system but the available "Help" says nothing about the options
> you mentioned.
> That may be because I'm using the MATE desktop. I've had "Help" weirdness on
> other programs IIRC.

Evince has a "zoom" capability that enlarges the document including
fonts and images.  I use it quite a bit to see detail in scanned
electronics schematics.

- Nate

-- 

"The optimist proclaims that we live in the best of all
possible worlds.  The pessimist fears this is true."

Web: https://www.n0nb.us
Projects: https://github.com/N0NB
GPG fingerprint: 82D6 4F6B 0E67 CD41 F689 BBA6 FB2C 5130 D55A 8819

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#232234

On Mon, 1 Mar 2021 04:44:56 -0600
Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:

> A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.
> Due to vision problems I wish to convert it to HTML for onscreen viewing.
> 
> pdf2htmlEX is an inappropriate tool as it is too focused on maintaining 
> format of original. Its rigidity results in a fixed number of 
> *characters* per line irregardless of chosen font size. As there is 
> nothing formatted as a table, this restriction is inappropriate.
> 
> The only relevant links in the document are from the "Table of Contents" 
> to the appropriate section. pdf2htmlEX *IGNORES* them!
> 
> A suggested tool?

You can try pdftohtml, in poppler-utils. I don't know whether it will
suffer from the same problem you have with pdf2htmlEX

Celejar

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#232241

On 03/01/2021 06:58 AM, Celejar wrote:
> On Mon, 1 Mar 2021 04:44:56 -0600
> Richard Owlett <rowlett@cloud85.net> wrote:
> 
>> A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.
>> Due to vision problems I wish to convert it to HTML for onscreen viewing.
>>
>> pdf2htmlEX is an inappropriate tool as it is too focused on maintaining
>> format of original. Its rigidity results in a fixed number of
>> *characters* per line irregardless of chosen font size. As there is
>> nothing formatted as a table, this restriction is inappropriate.
>>
>> The only relevant links in the document are from the "Table of Contents"
>> to the appropriate section. pdf2htmlEX *IGNORES* them!
>>
>> A suggested tool?
> 
> You can try pdftohtml, in poppler-utils. I don't know whether it will
> suffer from the same problem you have with pdf2htmlEX
> 

I had initially ignored it as the man page starts with:
> This manual page documents briefly the pdftohtml command. This manual page was
> written for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution because the original program does
> not have a manual page. 

When it says "brief" it meant "options will be only *listed*"!

I just tried it and it apparently suffers same end result.
If someone knows of some functional documentation for it, I'll try again.

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#232235

Richard Owlett wrote: 
> A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.

They certainly don't write it that way, so perhaps they have a
source website where the original text is written?

-dsr-

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#232236

On 03/01/2021 07:04 AM, Dan Ritter wrote:
> Richard Owlett wrote:
>> A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.
> 
> They certainly don't write it that way, so perhaps they have a
> source website where the original text is written?
> 

With that in mind I had already posted to a list followed by the 
programmer. I've a gut feel the answer will be effectively no.

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#232245

On 03/01/2021 07:13 AM, Richard Owlett wrote:
> On 03/01/2021 07:04 AM, Dan Ritter wrote:
>> Richard Owlett wrote:
>>> A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.
>>
>> They certainly don't write it that way, so perhaps they have a
>> source website where the original text is written?
>>
> 
> With that in mind I had already posted to a list followed by the 
> programmer. I've a gut feel the answer will be effectively no.
> 

I was wrong. I didn't understand what a info file was.
texi2html worked like a charm!    <*GRIN*>

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#232246

> A program I wish to use distributes its manual as a PDF file.
> Due to vision problems I wish to convert it to HTML for onscreen viewing.

I think what you're trying to do is quite difficult.
It's a bit easier than OCR, but still hard enough that it's not well
supported by any tool that I know.  So the better option is to try and
find some source for that PDF and then try to convert *that* to a format
you like.


        Stefan

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