Reflow: Changing Mobile PDF Viewing Across the World
We have all had the experience of being sent a PDF document by a co-worker or company and trying to open it on a mobile device. Older mobile PDF viewers do not reshuffle the text and images which results in you needing to zoom in and out, and scroll from left to right to read the document. This is not a great user experience at all, especially when mobile friendly is a common term being used in mobile app development today. But PDF technology has moved on leaps and bounds in the past ten years and what was a typical experience back then is no longer the norm. Newer PDF viewers built today are mobile friendly and use what is known as reflow to make PDF documents fit nicely onto smaller screens. This makes documents easier to read, and there is no need to scroll left to right anymore!
The difference
The difference is paramount! What was a horrible viewing experience has become an elegant one that has the viewer’s experience in mind. Reflow has allowed text and images to stack quickly in a mobile-optimized fashion, leaving no need to scroll or zoom ever again. This demonstrates that PDF is still very much alive and kicking the text processing industry into gear.
This new and improved PDF experience has many positive outcomes for businesses who develop applications both internally and externally. For applications that require text processing features like editing, creating and commenting on documents, reflow with PDF technology means that you can switch between your desktop and mobile devices seamlessly, making working on-the-go effortless. For applications where people can search and view documents, reflow will allow users to quickly navigate through a document without needing to zoom and scroll endlessly to get to the end of a section.
Why Build with Foxit
Foxit delivers superior PDF technology that is used by small, medium and enterprise customers around the world but that is not the best part! Our MobilePDF SDK is designed for developers with limited to no knowledge of PDF libraries. Through using an easily integrated UI Extension, developers can build applications with powerful PDF technology quickly and efficiently on Android, iOS or UWP App. Making a mobile-optimized app is no longer arduous and time-consuming as you can test your viewer as you create it and apply the reflow feature to your specifications.