The issue seems to be with the form data, rather than web plug in. Certain
pdf forms are not compatible across pdf viewers. There are pdf forms at
work that can be filled in off-line, if I try on Skim etc., will not print
correctly after filling in, let alone save or export.
According to Wikipedia, "In the PDF 1.5 format, Adobe
Systems<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adobe_Systems>introduced a new,
proprietary format for forms, namely Adobe XML Forms
Architecture (XFA) forms." This is not part of the ISO specs, and seems to
require Adobe Reader. If the pdf form uses this format, the user is out of
luck. Seems to be Adobe's way of preserving market share.
Regards
Nath Rao
On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 12:17 AM, Michael Kraft <[email protected]> wrote:
> *> It's not clear to me what you mean by saying that the website requires
> it. *
>
> Perhaps the best illustration of what I was posting about can be seen by
> going to the U.S. Postal Service website (https://cns.usps.com/go) and
> starting to create a "Click-N-Ship" Priority Mail label. You will be
> prompted that you need Adobe Acrobat.
>
> (I think you may have to create a user account -- i.e., login ID and
> password -- if you don't already have one. But perhaps you can just create
> a disposable ID if you never plan to use USPS services.)
>
> My post was prompted by the question: Why specifically do I need to use
> Acrobat instead of SKIM for this purpose?
>
> -------------------------------
> --- On *Sun, 6/30/13, Christiaan Hofman <[email protected]>* wrote:
>
>
> From: Christiaan Hofman <[email protected]>
> Subject: Re: [Skim-app-users] Any SKIM 'plug-in' that allows it be used at
> websites that want ADOBE?
> To: "For general discussion about using Skim" <
> [email protected]>
> Date: Sunday, June 30, 2013, 5:08 PM
>
> It's not clear to me what you mean by saying that the website requires it.
> Generally, website don't require a program. Or at least, they should not. I
> would not know how they would require it. Websites offer data, like PDF.
> And how that is handled is determined by your *browser*, not the website
> (or it should.) So this seems more like a question about your browser. I.e.
> you should tell your browser what it should do. That has nothing directly
> to do with Adobe or Skim. Now if it is about plugins, then you cannot do
> it, because there is no plugin for Skim. You can only tell your browser to
> open a PDF in Skim externally.
>
> Christiaan
>
> On Jun 30, 2013, at 19:09, Michael Kraft wrote:
>
> Thanks but I'm not sure why you brought up operating system defaults, as
> they weren't relevant to my inquiry.
>
> In a word, I just wanted to know whether any plug-in or other add-on would
> allow SKIM to substitute for ADODE (Acrobat) when a website 'required' the
> latter. Again, a case in point is printing out Priority Mail labels at
> usps.gov.
>
> *> My advice: don't ever use PDF forms!*
>
> Hard to never use PDF forms if the website requires them for what you want
> to do.
>
> ----------------------------
>
> --- On *Sun, 6/30/13, Randy Parker
> <[email protected]<http://mc/[email protected]>
> >* wrote:
>
>
> From: Randy Parker
> <[email protected]<http://mc/[email protected]>
> >
> Subject: Re: [Skim-app-users] Any SKIM 'plug-in' that allows it be used at
> websites that want ADOBE?
> To: "For general discussion about using Skim" <
> [email protected]<http://mc/[email protected]>
> >
> Date: Sunday, June 30, 2013, 11:34 AM
>
> Your computer's operating system assigns which program should be run to
> open particular filetypes, not Skim.
>
> In "Finder", right-click on a PDF file, select "Get Info", and set "Open
> with: "
>
> But my experience is that PDF forms actually DO require certain Adobe
> programs to correctly manipulate the fields. I can't remember if it was
> the standard "Acrobat" or a some kind of enhanced Acrobat. I base this on
> my son's Boy Scout Eagle form 2 years ago: some non-Adobe programs would
> open it and allow typing, but the entered text would not reliably "save".
> I was sure my son was doing something wrong until I did it a few times
> myself. (such fun typing in 8 pages of content a couple of times, only to
> have it completely lost both times !). I tried a couple of other PDF
> programs as well, with bad results.
>
> My advice: *don't ever use PDF forms!*
>
> I never got to the bottom of the problem, but I suspect there are
> proprietary quirks that are not part of the PDF standard.
>
>
> On Sat, Jun 29, 2013 at 11:01 PM, Michael Kraft <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Certain websites (government websites, in particular, including the USPS)
> require the user to have ADOBE installed in order to complete forms fill-in
> that are converted to PDFs. (Example: ADOBE required to create a USPS
> 'Priority Mail' mailing label)
>
> Is there any way to configure SKIM so that PDF’s that “require” ADOBE can
> use SKIM instead?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows:
>
> Build for Windows Store.
>
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev
> _______________________________________________
> Skim-app-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
>
>
>
>
> --
> http://mobiledyne.com
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows:
>
> Build for Windows Store.
>
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
> _______________________________________________
> Skim-app-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows:
>
> Build for Windows Store.
>
>
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev_______________________________________________
> Skim-app-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
>
>
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows:
>
> Build for Windows Store.
>
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
> _______________________________________________
> Skim-app-users mailing list
> [email protected]<http://mc/[email protected]>
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows:
>
> Build for Windows Store.
>
> http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev
> _______________________________________________
> Skim-app-users mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This SF.net email is sponsored by Windows:
Build for Windows Store.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/windows-dev2dev
_______________________________________________
Skim-app-users mailing list
[email protected]
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/skim-app-users
