Hej alla,
Vi på Gnutiken har beslutat att ha återkommande installations- och
reparationskvällar GNU/Linux. Det innebär gratis support för
privatpersoner, och tiderna är varannan onsdag, udda veckor, mellan kl
17 och kl 21.
Alla är välkomna att komma med sina datorer eller frågor, och vi skulle
också uppskatta om någon av er som har erfarenhet kan hjälpa till på
någon av dessa kvällar.
För ni som inte känner till Gnutiken håller vi till i Göteborg och har
adressen Övre Husargatan 27 (vid Linnéplatsen).
bästa hälsningar,
/Stian
http://gnutiken.se
Hi Rikard, Hi all !
[*update on the previous conversation*
Rikard has notified us that Swedish authorities tend to use more and
more PDF forms created in a way that PDF readers other than Adobe
Acrobat Reader (hereafter AA Reader) can open it but display :
"To view the full contents of this document, you need a later version of
the PDF viewer. You can upgrade
to the latest version of Adobe Reader from
www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html
For further support, go to
www.adobe.com/support/products/acrreader.html"
an example:
http://polisen.se/Vastra_Gotaland/sv/Service/Blanketter/Tillstand/Vanliga-b…
A developper from Evince helped us determine the source of the problem :
- the PDF is specially crafted so you won't be able to see it unless you
are using Adobe reader and a new version...
- the institution seems to be using Adobe Live Cycling to create the
PDFs.
We think it a good idea to contact the institutions to make them aware
that this is a problem... Rikard has declared himself ready to contact
them, but we might need some help in preparation of the contact]
Rikard already contacted the Swedish police who was quite little
understanding :
On 01/19/2011 01:26 PM, Rikard Fröberg wrote:
> I actually contacted the Swedish Police on this matter and described the
situation thoroughly to them, explaining each step and the implications
of them offering applications in a form that requires particular
software, proprietary no less, and got a confused reply where they
explained: "Yes, we are aware. That's why we changed to PDF recently."
Is there a wiki or so, on which I could create a sub page for this PDF
> forms problem? I could start listing Swedish institutions offering this
> crippled format and provide example links there.
I.e. they didn't understand that the PDFs they create cause a problem
similar to when they had *other* file formats before. Sigh.
So, first, Rikard, we would need to know exactly what you explained to
them, so that we know what arguments are not convincing for them.
>From what I see so far, *We need to explain them* :
- PDF is an Open Standard [1]
- Open Standard are precisely here to make sure several programs from
several developpers / companies can open then, i.e. to make sure to
ensure *independence from vendor*, *maximal accessibility for the
public* and *compatibility*.
- In creating / editing PDFs that can only be open by AA Reader deprives
the Standard from its advantages, but worse, it forces people into using
one program, into buying it from one vendor (being locked with him), and
the fact that it is free of charge is no parameter here.
- They could improve their accessibility in creating forms that are not
crafted, that can be open by any program designed to open the standard.
- we can help them to figure out how to do that
*we should not say* :
- The way they create their form is wrong -> they would probably react
not be very listening if we start telling them they are wrong, we should
rather tell them they can be better.
*What we need to search in preparation*:
- Free Software PDF readers are not very performant with forms. They can
usually open them, but not save the information entered, and not perform
a check-up routine. We need to determine which software are good at
*editing* PDFs that can be open by all readers. It would be better here
to have Free Software to suggest, in case they aren't, I guess it would
already be an improvement to have institutions publish forms that can be
open by Free Software even if they are created by a proprietary one...
- Rikard suggested there were possibilities to create forms with Open
Office or libre Office. Nico here tested Open Office, it worked for what
concerns the form functions, but we couldn't figure out how to design
the layout we wanted for the PDF... Some research here would be good
before recommending these options
- other options would be good.
- @Rikard : there is the possibility to create a wiki page on FSFE's
wiki (wiki.fsfe.org). If you don't have an account there, either one of
the Fellows in Sweden could help you create the list of institutions, or
you can create a guest account [2].
*Do you have other ideas, comments on how we can procede here*?
Thanks for your involvement here,
Regards
Maëlle
[1] http://pdfreaders.org/os.en.html
[2] https://wiki.fsfe.org/UserGuide#Guest_accounts
--
Maëlle Costa
Free Software Foundation Europe - intern
im : maelle(a)jabber.fsfe.org