Display Documents on Web Apps
PDF.js is maintained by Mozilla for Firefox, but it works reasonably well with other browsers. It allows you to display PDF documents using HTML5 and WebAssembly as part of an HTML page.
Mozilla assigns a limited budget to work on the built-in Firefox PDF reader, though most PDF.js development is now done by unpaid volunteers. Which is why there are issues that persist with this library. The commercial solutions based on PDF.js offer support but they are not without problems.
Alternative to PDF.js
Furthermore, PDF.js parses files directly in the browsers, which can cause performance issues and high memory usage due to intense processing. One of the biggest problems is the lack of rights management, as PDF files are transmitted to the user and decoded locally.
Since PDF.js renders PDF documents on the fly, it limits its indexing of long documents by search engines like Google, harming SEO.
BuildVu simplifies the process by converting PDF to HTML in advance so that only HTML is transmitted to end user, not the original PDF file. This solves the issues of file security, processing load and supporting multiple browsers. BuildVu can also reduce the bandwidth used as it removes the need to send the whole file just to display some of the content.
You also get the flexibility of HTML/SVG which you can further tinker with to your own use case. Both are widely supported whereas PDF.js is designed primarily for Firefox, which has a worldwide share of less than 3%.
Tailored for Developers
BuildVu’s conversion leads to simple and clean code, which you can use to create your own interactive solutions with HTML, SVG and JSON assets.
PDF.js uses canvas and relies on JavaScript for rendering, including the ability to zoom. With an SVG-based solution like BuildVu, you get vector zooming without the need for JavaScript.
BuildVu can run entirely on your own servers, ensuring compliance with privacy regulations and keeping sensitive data safe.
Conclusion
In conclusion PDF.js may be a good option for some use cases using PDFs in their web application but BuildVu provides a more stable foundation for commercial usage. Behind the PDF.js alternative is a close knit team of developers who have been improving the product for more then a decade.
BuildVu allows you to
| View PDF files in a Web app |
| Convert PDF documents to HTML5 |
| Parse PDF documents as HTML |
