The PDF format (Portable Document Format) is a file format whose greatest advantage is that it faithfully reproduces the appearance that a paper document would have, whether it contains text or graphics, and regardless of the device on which it is opened.
Although it was developed by the Adobe company in 1993, it was released as an open format in 2008.
Furthermore, "presumably" is not editable and can be protected, although in reality, with the appropriate software, it can be edited although it is not a comfortable format to work with. That is, it is a format for delivering a final result.
It is a virtual sheet of paper
While it has some undeniable virtues, it is still a virtual representation of a real sheet of paper - that is, it is a paper-oriented format.
It made sense when communication was mainly done on paper, the 80s, 90s… (and that the format came out in the 90s) but if we intend to digitize ourselves, it's not the format.
If you have to print a digital document on paper to read it… it is not a suitable digital format.
Today we are in the era of screens. It is true that very low resolution screens are still sold which make reading difficult but each time this gets better and better and it is more pleasant to do so.
But the problem with PDF is not the quality but the format. Imitate a piece of paper (usually A4) so that if you read it on a screen that isn't that size, you'll have to constantly scroll and zoom. It is not intended for this.
If we go to a mobile screen, the problem increases a lot more, so we should think about ditching PDF if we think about a future of screens.
It does not mean that PDF is a bad format, quite the opposite, but it is not meant to adapt to different dimensions in an agile way, and if another format can do it, it will also do a good job when we have to print it in an A4.
While I'm not sure which other format is appropriate, it's clear that HTML and EPUB are much better to fit any screen, although if we intend to generate a simple document like we did with PDF, EPUB might be a better idea.
Unfortunately, a simple integration of the EPUB is missing, especially in previews or previews, which is click and see.
