

Show HN: Pdftotext.org - sigvef
http://pdftotext.org/

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iqonik
Thank you, I have bookmarked this for when I don't have a PDF reader
installed. Also, we currently render PDF's as images for clients to view (in
their browser), this works well on a desktop but not on mobile. I am wondering
if the solution may be to display a text version to mobile devices!

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sigvef
I made this to practice running microsites on the cheap, with all that it
entails (SEO, analytics, testing, etc). All the business logic is done client-
side, so that the page can be hosted for free using GitHub pages. Any feedback
is greatly appreciated!

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walterbell
Maybe add some warning text that it only works for pre-existing text in a PDF,
i.e no OCR for PDFs which consist of images.

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padraic7a
This does work impressively fast until you realise that it isn't doing any
OCR, as parent comment points out.

The site also throws up a certificate error which might make some people
nervous; "Technical Details: pdftotext.org uses an invalid security
certificate. The certificate is only valid for the following names:
www.github.com, _.github.com,_.github.io, *.githubusercontent.com "

I think if you put a note on the site explaining what you are trying to do
[practice running microsites on the cheap etc] that visitors would be
reassured.

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sigvef
That's interesting, I haven't considered certificates at all. Where are you
getting these errors? My intention was to serve pdftotext.org strictly over
plain old http. Are you using HTTPS Everywhere or similar?

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padraic7a
I'm not using it on this pc - I get the error after clicking on the link on
the bottom left hand side of the page.

