Issue 98564

I would like to see a comment from the UX side (cc'ed fl). 
The main problem I see is that user's can't spot easily if a PDF is "normal" or
"hybrid" and they might get confused if they can open the latter in OOo but
can't open the former. 
As long as the editing of hybrid PDF is bound to the PDF import filter this
wouldn't happen.

So now i guess i'll just have to cross my fingers and hope this one won't
receive the same treatment as
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=69636 , i.e. "duplicate of
http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=65397 , Closing" and nothing
moves in this direction for another two years...

Confusion could be avoided by calling PDFs "OpenOffice.org Hybrid PDFs" and a
meaningful error message if the user tries to open a non-hybrid PDF.

... by calling PDFs "OpenOffice.org Hybrid PDFs"

... I mean in the file window

@gyll: both issues have been closed for different reasons. One of them because
the extension was meant as the way to provide the desired enhancement and the
other because it had too much overlap with its duplicate. That's why I prefer to
have a unique issue for the particular question whether the hybrid PDF filter
should be part of the "real" PDF filter or not. 

i started to write a whole essay about this HPDF thing, but i won't post it yet;
instead, i'll just come with an argument strictly related to the HPDF separation
from PDF import:

---------
there is one very important reason for separating HPDF from the "plain" PDF
import functionality, no matter what course of integration the PDF import will
take in the future: *PDF format is not an OOo format*, changes are out of OOo
control, it's a cat and mouse thing to keep compatibility, import bugs will have
to be fixed all so often, etc, while *HPDF is fully under the control of OOo*,
thus effectively being a *native OOo format*
---------

Does it make sense? Am i missing something essential?

It's not wrong - technically spoken. But as OOo is an end user application we
must take the user's perspective to judge about features. And at least currently
I see a user experience problem if OOo can open only hybrid PDF but not the
others. The coupling between HPDF and PDF import avoids this.

How about this:

All HPDF files have the extension ".ooo.pdf", and the OOo builds will only show
HPDF files in the Open dialog (not PDFs). Basially we say this: the .ooo.pdf
format is NOT the pdf format, but it's pdf-compatible.

@gyll: I like your idea. But I would prefer:
.odt.pdf (Writer)
.ods.pdf (Calc)
...

The question is if the Open dialogs (of all platforms) support filtering by such
multiple extensions.

This naming scheme would also indicate that there are two file types in one
file. I think this should annul mba's usability doubts.

Another option surely is to move "plain" pdf import into the core product as well. 

Just my 2 cents...

> Another option surely is to move "plain" pdf import into the core product as well.

@thb: But therefor we have to wait until the PDF Import Extension becomes
usable. .oO(if ever) Current 0.3.2 beta only disappoints users.

@mba: What about targeting this issue?

Currently I'm still unsure whether this is a good idea at all. 
I will start a dicussions on the ux list as my attempt to include fl into our
discussion obviously failed.

I tried to get some feedback und the ux list. It seems they don't have very
strong feelings about this issue. :-)

Anyway, I feel confirmed that the possible user experience problems are bigger
than the potential win.

So for me that's a "won't fix".

wontfix -> closed

*** Issue 99737 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***