D&D 5E So what's the scoop on D&D in PDF Format?

[Wolfpack48]

What OS and what version are you running? In both Sonoma (Mac) and Windows 11, when I tile two windows side-by-side, they "stick" together as if they are two panes in a single window, with a muntin in middle that you can drag to resize to make one wider and the other narrower. You can put it in a separate desktop (or "space" for Mac) to make it less wonky to switch among apps or, especially, other windows of the same app. I don't find it clunky at all, on either OS.

Yup, I know how it works in both Mac and Windows. I just don't like all the extra cruft at the top of the screen for menus, bars, etc. I'd like a very minimalistic reading mode that allows you pin a page of the pdf on the left and scroll on the right (or visa versa) without me needing to go in and hide stuff. I'm sure one of the readers will add it someday.

 

[Staffan]

This is excellent. For me the bare minimum is an actual read-in of the text so that it can be read text to speech, and is searchable. I really appreciate it when the toc is linked and bookmarks are placed. One feature in general I would like --and this would be more a piece of Reader functionality -- would be the ability to pin a page while scrolling another. This way you could pin a map page and read/scroll the text side-by-side.

What I do is make a copy of the map with the snipping tool in Windows and put it side by side with the text in the PDF.

 

[MNblockhead]

The group I'm currently with meet at work in the office. And, for good and sensible reasons, my employers have locked down access to a lot of the internet, and especially games. So anything that requires a connection to DDB, and anything that requires any sort of custom software to view it is simply not something I can use.

I'm not going to argue that PDF is perfect (far from it!), and I'm sure there are other digital formats that are better, for certain values of better. But if the choice is between a less good format I can actually use versus a "better" one that I can't, it's not really a choice.

This is nitpicky, I know, and I understand your point. But you don't need to be online to use DDB. But you do have to have an Android, iOS, or Mac. Unfortunately, there is no DDB app (afaik) for Windows.

 

[MNblockhead]

Yup, I know how it works in both Mac and Windows. I just don't like all the extra cruft at the top of the screen for menus, bars, etc. I'd like a very minimalistic reading mode that allows you pin a page of the pdf on the left and scroll on the right (or visa versa) without me needing to go in and hide stuff. I'm sure one of the readers will add it someday.

Yeah, I know what you mean. I wish Adobe would give more control over hiding elements of the interface.

I was playing around with Google Drive in Chrome on my Mac and I was able to achieve this. The following is a whole-screen screenshot without anything cropped.

Steps (using Google Chrome, on a Mac): I open new Google Chrome window, so it has only one tab. I move the Chrome window to its own space (drag and hold at the right-edge of my screen). I open the PDF in Google Drive. I right-click on the tab and select "Duplicate" from the context menu. From the menu bar I click on "Window" and select "Tile to the Right of Screen". Works well, except the google PDF control will appear and disappear based on your mouse cursor movements. But I can't figure out what is actually triggering the tools to appear and disappear. If I could more reliably bring them up when I wanted them and hide them when I didn't, this would be perfect.

 

[MNblockhead]

[DELETED]

Sorry wasn't a question.

 

[Wolfpack48]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I wish Adobe would give more control over hiding elements of the interface.

I was playing around with Google Drive in Chrome on my Mac and I was able to achieve this. The following is a whole-screen screenshot without anything cropped.

View attachment 357109

Steps (using Google Chrome, on a Mac): I open new Google Chrome window, so it has only one tab. I move the Chrome window to its own space (drag and hold at the right-edge of my screen). I open the PDF in Google Drive. I right-click on the tab and select "Duplicate" from the context menu. From the menu bar I click on "Window" and select "Tile to the Right of Screen". Works well, except the google PDF control will appear and disappear based on your mouse cursor movements. But I can't figure out what is actually triggering the tools to appear and disappear. If I could more reliably bring them up when I wanted them and hide them when I didn't, this would be perfect.

View attachment 357110

Basically if you could go into full screen mode with a grouped pair of windows kept at their set screen width/zoom and hide all bars/borders except for the pages, we'd be golden. Hit Esc and back to the menus.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Mod Note:

@ezo @DarkCrisis …and anyone else thinking about it

You’ve been coy so far, but let’s not forget ENWorld does not condone piracy. Go no further down this path.

 

[CapnZapp]

PDFs can be good for you and bad for others.

That's true of everything, and "X is good except when it is bad" is not a good argument for not producing X.

Every rpg company should produce PDFs, and those that don't want to use them can avoid them.

 

[LordEntrails]

Every rpg company should produce PDFs

Why? Yes there are good reasons to do so, there are also bad ones. Just like users have different needs and priorities, why shouldn't companies be able to make their own valuations and decisions?

 

[CapnZapp]

Why? Yes there are good reasons to do so, there are also bad ones. Just like users have different needs and priorities, why shouldn't companies be able to make their own valuations and decisions?

As long as these end up deciding to publish rulebooks as PDFs