PDF to HTML5 conversion

We have been working on a secret project since early 2010. We already have a great Java library for printing, viewing and rasterizing PDF files. How difficult would it be to create a new version which can convert PDF to HTML?

The advent of Mobile devices and the maturity of the HTML specification has made it much more feasible and advantageous. HTML 5 offers a canvas, Javascript and  decent featureset to handle PDF content. PDF is a great file format for display but the viewers are not great on mobile platforms.

Java does not run on Apple’s IPad/IPhone, and Android does not support several critical Java features. So porting our Java PDF viewer to either platform would be a huge amount of work. It is also not clear which platform will win and whether there is a commercial market.

PDF to HTML conversion makes a great deal of sense for our customers who face the same issue – they can make content available on multiple platforms easily and do not have to pick which they think will win. So we have taken our Java parser and built a new product to generate HTML.

The full details and access to the software can be found here.

We are publishing lots of blog articles on things we have learnt, the specifics of conversion, and even some of the legal issues involved. If any topic is of particular interest, please let us know. What would you like to know?

Click here to see all the article in the PDF to HTML5 conversion series.

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Mark Stephens

Mark Stephens has been working with Java and PDF since 1999 and has diversified into HTML5, SVG and JavaFX. He also enjoys speaking at conferences and has been a Speaker at user groups, Business of Software, Seybold and JavaOne conferences. He has a very dry sense of humor and an MA in Medieval History for which he has not yet found a practical use.

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