James Delahunty
21 Jun 2010 1:32
Google Inc. is integrating a PDF reader with its Chrome browser. The move comes not long after the company revealed it would do the same for the Adobe Flash player, showing growing support from the search giant for Adobe's products.
The company rolled out developer builds of its browser for Windows and Mac that include a PDF reader on Friday. "As we’ve previously mentioned, the traditional browser plug-in model, though powerful, presents challenges in compatibility, performance, and security. To overcome this, we’ve been working with the web community to help define a next generation browser plug-in API," Google engineering director Marc Pawlige said.
"We have begun using this API to improve the experience of viewing and interacting with PDF files in Google Chrome. This mirrors our efforts to optimize the Adobe Flash Player experience in Chrome."
The PDF viewer will not be on by default, and has to be activated by visiting "chrome://plugins", but Google will eventually change the default settings to have the PDF reader active.
While admitting the PDF rendering process needs some improving, Google claims that PDF files will render as seamlessly as HTML pages soon, and that basic interactions will be no different than the same interactions with web pages.