How To View PDF Files In Mozilla Firefox

With over 80% of non-HTML documents on the web consisting of PDF documents, viewing PDFs in browsers has become a common user behavior among web surfers.  You can come across anything in the PDF format: manuals, quick start guides, white papers, ebooks—the list goes on.

So it’s not surprising that browsers are trying to fill that need with built-in PDF viewing features. We’ve already covered Chrome’s native PDF viewer when it first came out. And other browsers, like Mozilla Firefox, have since followed suit.

Thus, it’s high time we took a look at how you can use Firefox’s PDF viewing feature that was added in the latest version of Mozilla Firefox.

Getting Started

The convenience of these built-in PDF viewers like Firefox’s is that it allows users to open and view PDF files online without a plug-in. The viewer is on by default, so you don’t have to worry about enabling it.  All you have to do is click on the link of the PDF file. And just like that, you can view PDFs directly within the browser.

Viewing PDF In Firefox

Overall, the interface is sleek and simple, and the minimalist approach offers a clean PDF viewing experience.  Although Firefox PDF viewer worked well with the PDFs tested, it gave us a warning that “this PDF document might not be displayed correctly” and offers up a quick click solution to use a different viewer.

Firefox PDF viewer warning

Depending on the complexity of the PDF you’re trying to view, you might want to take advantage of this.  Otherwise, you can close this pop-up and continue to view your PDF.

PDF Viewing And Functionality

Once you have a PDF opened in Firefox, you can accomplish the most common tasks with the file from the toolbar.

Thumbnails:  Navigate through the PDF with the built-in viewer’s sidebar navigation.  You can toggle between a thumbnail or outline view

Page Up/Down: In addition to scrolling, you can manually go page by page through your PDF

Firefox-PDF-Page-Navigation

Page Navigation: Jump to and from a specific page in the file

Zooming: For zooming in and out on your PDF content. Click on the drop down box and you can specify the page size and display

Firefox PDF Zooming Options

And like most PDF viewers, you get features to help you take that file offline or view it more easily:

Firefox PDF File Options

  • Full Screen Mode: View your PDF document in full screen mode
  • Printing: Print a copy of the PDF. From the Print dialog you can select the printer drive, the range of pages and the number of copies you want
  • Downloading: Download and save the PDF to your computer
  • Copy Current View:  Allows you to open the current view in another tab or window

Dealing With PDF Viewing Issues

Considering this feature is only a few months old, you may experience some bugs, slow rendering, or even blank PDF pages.  As such, you may want to use Firefox’s built-in PDF viewer sparingly or only on more simple PDF files.

You can also disable the viewer and resort to using your regular PDF plugins or PDF viewers to open PDF files. To do this, follow these steps:

1. In the Tools menu, select Options

2. In the Options dialog, go into the Applications tab

3. Search for and select Portable Document Format (PDF) in the Content Type list

4. In the Action list, click on the drop-down arrow. Here you can specify how you want Firefox to handle PDF files.

Adjusting Firefox Viewing Options

To try Firefox’s PDF viewer yourself, head over to the Mozilla.org site to download the latest version.

5 Great Ideas For Creating A Personalized Mother’s Day Message

No matter how you decide to celebrate Mother’s Day this year, there will always be one thing you’ll give your mother without fail: your Happy Mother’s Day greeting message.

Yet, however you send it to your mother online, whether it’s in an email, an e-card, or posting up a simple “Happy Mother’s Day” message on her Facebook page, it just doesn’t seem enough. Ever think that it could use a personal touch? That it could be made even more special?

Why not take your Mother’s Day message to the next level this year? Make sure it’s a special day with a message specially crafted for her. Here are a few ideas to jazz up your Happy Mother’s Day greeting with a few tips and tools.

1. Digital Photo Albums

Mother's Day Photo Album

Sometimes the best gift you can give is a collection of good moments, and a Mother’s Day Album is a great way of getting them into one single package. When creating it, try getting a good collection of photos over the year since last year’s Mother’s Day. Each year is unique and with it you’ll want to capture the best moments and memories of each one.

Tools: jAlbum, Photobucket, Flickr

Tip:  Since albums are ultimately a collection of captured moments, an album collecting different facets of your mother as a person is a great way to show your appreciation for the person she is.  For this, create one that has multiple sections. Within each section, designate a category like “mother,” “best friend,” or even “super hero.”  Then include photos that show her in different moments, representing those traits throughout the year.

2. Photo Collages

Mother’s Day Photo Collage

We’ve all had those moments we wish we had kept in a bottle, and surely your mother has had them too.  Photo collages can be a perfect way to “bottle” those moments up.  The best part about collages is that you can be as artistically creative with them as you’d like. Add pictures not normally associated with each other or arrange them in different patterns. See where the collage takes you!

Tools: Fotor, PhotoCollage, Photovisi, Canva

Tip:  In your collage, mix in images that you associate with those moments, whether it’s a picture that sets a mood or one that evokes a special meaning to you both. It’s a visually challenging project, but an effective one that doesn’t need words to get your message across.

3. Word Clouds

Word Cloud for Mother’s DayJust like a collage, word clouds can express your Mother’s Day message with a visual mash up of ideas. This is perfect as a family project as every member can contribute their own words as well.  Online word cloud generators are flexible enough to work with websites, documents, and text. In most cases, you can even tailor the shape of your word cloud.

Tools:   Wordle, WordItOut.com, Tagxedo

Tip:  Fit in words that pertain not just to your mother, but to your relationship as well. For instance, adding nicknames or places that are special to you both will add a nice touch to remembering the memorable tidbits in your lives.

4. Audio Recordings

Mother's Day Audio Recording

A simple post that states “Happy Mother’s Day” just isn’t enough. And let’s face it. A written message doesn’t have the same authenticity or weight than a real live voice. Hearing those words from the mouths of loved ones themselves is priceless. So why not make an audio recording of your Mother’s Day greeting? Add sound effects, special messages or even make a song out of your Mother’s Day greeting.

Tools:  Apowersoft, Vocaroo, Chirbit

Tip:  Ever hear of that TV show “This is Your Life”?  This is a perfect opportunity to replicate that same spotlight on your own mother in audio format. Record every family member’s anecdotes which involve your mother. Then put it all together. The result? Your mother gets to hear some great memories from the people who matter the most.

5. Multimedia Presentations

Mother's Day Presentation

Who says presentations are only for professional purposes?  Make a presentation listing all the great things about your mother.  This is a more flexible greeting format as you can decide how you want it to look, what you want it to contain and which sorts of media to add—images, audio, text, and even video.

Tools: Prezi, MS PowerPoint, GoogleDocs Slides, Moovly

Tips:  Don’t forget that you can also set up presentations as a slideshow. As such, try formatting the presentation as a narrative so it can simply play and take your mother through it.  She can watch her mother’s day gift like it’s movie night at home.

4 Cool Ways To View 3D Content In Your Browser

4 Cool Ways To View 3D Content In Your Browser

From reviewing to editing, projects with 3D CAD models require a lot of collaboration. Whether you’re dealing with engineering designs, architectural layouts, or manufacturing plans, you’ll need advanced applications, like AutoCAD, to generate and fully interact with 3D content.

Moreover, like PDF documents, files with advanced 3D content need special viewers.  However, most CAD applications offer built-in viewers directly within their software. So what if you or your clients don’t have immediate access to the necessary software?

That’s where these resources fit in.  These browser apps allow you to view and share 3D files without the original design software, making a bit of the CAD process easily accessible from anywhere and to anyone with an Internet connection and a browser.

Although these viewers don’t contain the heavy hitting features of full version CAD tools, each one of these has a couple of unique features for practical 3D image viewing online.

* Note that you’ll need a WebGL (Web Graphics Library) enabled browser, one that supports the JavaScript API that renders 3D graphics without a plug-in. These include Chrome 9.0+ , Firefox 4.0+ , Opera 11, and Safari 5.1+ (disabled by default).  (For more details, read Which Web browsers Can Run 3D CAD? by Ralph Grabowski).

GrabCAD

GrabCAD 3D Viewer
Source: http://grabcad.com/jair.meira-1

Here’s one viewer that was just recently launched by GrabCAD, a community made up of a wide range of engineers with their own expertise.  Their 3D viewer is perfect for sharing uploaded content with others who don’t have a CAD application to view it in.

Anyone can view a model by selecting it and clicking on the “View in 3D” button below it.  Once the model is opened in the viewer, you can annotate, zoom, rotate and translate the model. To boot, there are some great public 3D models on this site which you can check out without having to download.

GrabCAD members who upload their work have profiles and contact information available, which makes it perfect if you need to get in touch with them or get a quick sample of other work they’ve done.

Online 3D Viewer

Online 3D File Viewer

Online 3D Viewer is another great viewer that made the list. It allows you to quickly upload your files and view your local 3D models online. You can open files by clicking on the icon or simply drag and drop them. Supported formats are 3DS, OBJ, STL and more.

Sketchfab

Sketchfab is a website for publishing, sharing and discovering 3D and VR content. There are a lot of handy features that come with this tool.

It allows you to easily display 3D models on the web and view them on any browser, mobile, desktop, or a Virtual Reality headset. You can upload the unlimited number of models from your software or your browser and embed them directly on Facebook, blogs, forums or any other site.

Online 3D Content Publisher

The main product of Sketchfab is a 3D and VR model viewer that enables you to move freely around or inside the 3D scene. In addition to static 3D models, the viewer is able to play and control 3D animations and make those models viewable in headsets. The tool relies on the WebGL JavaScript API to display 3D on web pages in all modern web browsers.

P3D.in

 P3D Screenshot

P3D.in is an online service for importing, viewing and sharing your 3D models.  Although you can opt in for a paid account with extended features, this tool is completely free to use.

Features include: support for Wavefront Obj. files, unique sharing URL generation for uploaded models, privacy options for viewing, navigation settings, model manipulation functions, viewing control options, embeddable HTML code, and 50 MB of storage space when you sign up. Visit their FAQ page for full details.

How to Translate PDF Documents Without Learning Another Language

Translating PDF files in different languages

It isn’t uncommon to come across PDF files in different languages. In fact, with the large global and international nature of the Internet, it’s hard not to come across one.

Whether it’s an online information brochure or an offline manual for a digital camera, a PDF file can come in all different types of languages.  However, one major issue is that, in most cases, you won’t be able to read in every different language fluently. So what do you?

Luckily, if you come across a PDF file in a different language, you don’t have to stress yourself out to learn a new language with a translation dictionary or database.  Here are some quick, easily accessible ways that can quickly get your PDF content into a language you can understand.

Google Translate

You may already know that Google can translate web pages, text, and phrases to and from 65 different languages. It’s as simple as adjusting your browser settings to auto-translate web pages or copying and pasting text to translate in the main Google Translate interface.

Google Translate PDF Translation

Well, translating PDF content with Google is just as simple. Once you’re on the main Google Translate page, click on the  translate a document hypertext link under the main text field.  You’ll get the above interface where you can click on Choose File to upload your PDF and select your target language.

However, one thing to note is that this tool is geared only towards translating the textual content; formatting and images aren’t preserved. Thus, you can expect this to work best when you need to translate and interpret large sections of text. When the translation process is done, your converted text will be available in a new tab in your browser.

Google Docs

While the above method doesn’t require a Google account, it’s quite possible that you already have one. If you do, and are already an avid user of Google Docs, then you can easily take advantage of its Translate Document functionality and use it on your uploaded PDFs.

Provided that your PDF was imported into Google Docs by selecting all the Upload settings to convert it to the Google Docs format (displayed when you upload a document), you should be able to open your PDF in the main editing interface with the main menu and formatting toolbars.

How to translate PDF file

With your PDF open in Google Docs, click on Tools and select Translate Document. You can then choose your desired language and click on Translate. The results will be generated in a new PDF file with both the original and translated versions included.

DocTranslator

Doc Translator Logo

Though the many ads on the site and interface may put you off, DocTranslator has a solid database, using the Google Translate service to process your textual content and containing translation support for more than 50 languages.  To boot, the site offers translation for a handful of popular formats without file size restrictions, including the PDF format.

Keep in mind that this tool should only be used for translating PDF content that isn’t sensitive, confidential, or in need of any sort of security at all (files such as manuals, brochures, fliers, etc.). The fine print on their privacy statement mentions that it doesn’t include PDF files. So you’ll have to use your own discretion on which PDF content you want translated.

Doc Translator PDF

To access the PDF translation app, click and select the PDF option on the homepage, and you’ll be able to upload your PDF and choose your target language.  In contrast to Google Translate, DocTranslator  works towards retaining the formatting and layout of the file, though your results may vary.

Convert PDF to HTML For Free

PDF to HTML Conversion

With DIY tools anyone can create and personalize a simple HTML webpage.

But as you may know, that simple HTML page can be made up of content coming from different types of formats, which means dealing with content like JPEG images, Word document text, and even the hard-to-edit PDF file.

For Word content and JPEGs you can easily copy and paste or upload image files into your HTML code with editing GUIs. But for PDF content, the conversion is best left to applications which, unfortunately, can’t guarantee they’ll make life any easier for you.

The problem lies in the small number of inconveniences: signing up with an email, downloading plug-ins, registering with personal information, or paying for full feature access.

The solution to this?—Our free online PDF to HTML converter.

To use it, simply upload your PDF file, click on Convert, and your PDF is quickly converted into HTML (conversion times depend on the size of your file).

Once the conversion is done, you’ll get a link directly on the page on which you can click to view your PDF content converted in HTML. You’re free to copy and reuse the generated code in your own HTML web pages and projects.

Moreover, the URL is permanent, meaning you can keep using it and share it online with your colleagues whenever you want.

You don’t need to sign up with an email, pay for any services, or wait for a converted file to be sent to you. It’s completely anonymous and available whenever you need it.

Just give the tool a try on your PDF and see if its convenience works for you.