Kim Gentes

How to disable Google Chrome’s annoying PDF Viewer:

Folks that are using Google Chrome, you will have noticed in one of their recent updates Chrome is now including a new plugin.  This wonderful new addition is “Chrome PDF Viewer”.  If only it were truly wonderful.  As a tech support representative at WorshipTeam.com, I can tell you that a number of Chrome users over the last few days have contacted us asking why their PDF’s are no longer being displayed correctly in Adobe Reader.  Users of Chrome will note that most websites using PDFs have this new plugin causing issues with printing from PDF’s, and PDF documents imbedded inside a webpage.  When printing from a PDF, Chrome opens the file and puts a gray border around the document.  At first glance it looks like this is not going to be an issue but once you print; you realize that the gray area on the edge is printed on the page with your document.  This “gray area” ends up taking up nearly half your paper, leaves you with only half your document and burns through your expensive ink cartridge.  What is the villain responsible for this dilemma?  The answer is “Chrome PDF Viewer”.  The plugin that has been set as the default in the latest version of Google Chrome is designed to prepare Google for their upcoming Chrome OS, where you won’t be able to install any PDF viewers.  But instead of making a quiet and helpful update, they bungled all their current users. Nice move Google.

There are a couple options you have in this situation:

1 ) For those of us who want to revert back to Adobe Reader for functionality and features that Chrome PDF Viewer is lacking, I have listed some steps below.   Please ensure you have the latest version of Adobe Reader installed before doing this, you can find it at http://get.adobe.com/reader/

1. Open Google Chrome
2. In the Address Bar type “about:plugins” and click enter
3. Chrome will then load a page with a list of your plugins, scroll down to the “Chrome PDF Viewer”, and click “Disable”
4. Once you have disabled “Chrome PDF Viewer” you can now visit a site and Print to Adobe PDF and Adobe Reader will open the file in Chrome.

2) Use a different browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, etc.).  There are many options depending on what OS you are running.   For those of us currently running Windows Vista SP2, or Windows 7; Internet Explorer 9 (although still in Beta) is a very attractive option that will only get better once it is in a stable release.    IE 9 (Beta) can be found at http://www.beautyoftheweb.com/

Hope this helps!

Jordan Gentes

I own an iPad. I love using it. I use Netflix and stream movies when I am sitting on the couch. I check my mail, calendar, and even write notes in some meetings. I use a Bible application for following along in church and I access maps for quick references. I have already written two articles about the iPad- one a positive review of it, the other a critique of Apple's decision to exclude flash technology from the platform. Check either of those articles to see that I love the positive attributes of the device, but remain skeptical of some aspects of the device.

That said, nothing burns me more than to see someone fly completely against reason and logic with an outright lie. Apple recently did this with their new advertizement for the iPad. So that you can review it for yourself, I encourage you to view the ad on Apple's website here:

http://www.apple.com/ipad/gallery/#ad

What you will see is a brilliant marketing and visual story. Compelling and fresh. I love it. Except that while it is listing the sparkling features of the iPad, at 0:17 through 0:20, the commercial says this:

"All the world's websites in your hands"

This is simply not true. Literally millions of websites run either completely or partially based on Adobe Flash. This is not a guess, this is a fact. Any website using Flash will not be able to function on iPad. In fact, a huge number or them won't even be visible at all, except for a "not supported" message.

According to several studies, approximately 1/3 of all websites will be useless on the iPad. In one of the largest online reviews of website technology, Opera Software surveyed 3.5 million web pages and about 33% of them used Flash.  That number gets even larger in developing technology regions of the world, such as China (at 67%) and Turkey (at 60%).  You can see the results of this survey data at http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/mama-key-findings/#flash

Admittedly the report is 1.5 years old, which is a long time on the web. But with the web following its trends, Flash implementation actually could reasonably be believed to be higher now than it was 1.5 years ago. With the iPad coming out just weeks ago, any change in that strategy would not have embedded itself in the majority of websites.  Those websites that are working to accommodate both Flash and HTML5 (iPad's only online web media player solution, except iTunes and Quicktime of course), such as Youtube.com have done so only very recently and have provided both options (Flash and HTML5) in deference to the vast hundreds of millions of users who use Flash as their web media player.

Back to the original point. Apple clearly says "All the world's websites in your hands". Why lie? Why not spin the commercial to say something complimentary about the browsing experience. Why lie blatantly in the face of undisputed facts?  I won't answer the question, but I hope Apple does do something.

My hope is that Apple will listen to my request to them:

Apple, change the commercial. Advertise honestly. You didn't want to put Flash on your device. That is fine. Your call. But don't lie about the capabilities of the iPad in the face of the decision you made.

Here's hoping someone cares about "truth in advertizing" these days... we'll see.

Happy iPad-ding and web surfing...

Kim Gentes