Evaluating PD4ML

#26345

Hello… I am evaluating this product. I tried to run a few examples and compare it with others. So far this is really good. However, one of the url I tested was not properly converted. It seems that some CSS instructions were not followed.

The url I am referring is http://www.blazersedge.com. I viewed the source and it has at least five CSS links but noticed that only one css was loaded by PD4ML. Can you please set me to the right directions how to convert this page properly?

version: PD4ML 360 (eval)
using content encoding from HTTP header: utf-8
loading CSS file http://cdn3.sbnation.com/stylesheets/blogs/mobile.v12913.css
not yet in cache: http://cdn3.sbnation.com/stylesheets/blogs/mobile.v12913.css
image not yet in cache: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/community_logos/14415/blazersedge-mid.jpg
not yet in cache: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/community_logos/14415/blazersedge-mid.jpg
image size: 7456
image not yet in cache: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/313246/79521_trail_blazers_grizzlies_basketball_small.jpg
not yet in cache: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/313246/79521_trail_blazers_grizzlies_basketball_small.jpg
image size: 3460
image not yet in cache: http://ad.sbnation.com/avw.php?zoneid=2413&n=xWziKDS4
not yet in cache: http://ad.sbnation.com/avw.php?zoneid=2413&n=xWziKDS4
image size: 43
image not yet in cache: http://ad.sbnation.com/avw.php?zoneid=2415&n=g5WdFW4c
not yet in cache: http://ad.sbnation.com/avw.php?zoneid=2415&n=g5WdFW4c
image size: 43
image not yet in cache: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/315397/penn_medium.jpg
not yet in cache: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/315397/penn_medium.jpg
image size: 68186
image not yet in cache: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/315479/cho_medium.jpg
not yet in cache: http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/315479/cho_medium.jpg
image size: 32250
image not yet in cache: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/311344/40561_acc_miami_duke_basketball_small.jpg
not yet in cache: http://cdn2.sbnation.com/entry_photo_images/311344/40561_acc_miami_duke_basketball_small.jpg
image size: 2116
image not yet in cache: http://s24.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=s24blazersedge
not yet in cache: http://s24.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=s24blazersedge
image size: 669
image not yet in cache: http://sm9.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=sm9sbnnet
not yet in cache: http://sm9.sitemeter.com/meter.asp?site=sm9sbnnet
image size: 173
image not yet in cache: http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=6846907&c3=&c4=&c5=&c6=&c15=&cj=1
not yet in cache: http://b.scorecardresearch.com/p?c1=2&c2=6846907&c3=&c4=&c5=&c6=&c15=&cj=1
image size: 43
done in 5756ms.

#27892

Obviously the site returns layouts and styles, optimized for particular client browser – which is actually good practice.

PD4ML does not declare itself in HTTP request as any of the major browsers, so it receives a very basic HTML/CSS version (probably a version for mobile clients). As for me the HTML is converted correctly. See attached.

#27893

No it was not… I have attached how another converter does it. Also, now I noticed that PD4ML from this website is in MOBILE BROWSER mode (look at the debug output again). If so, how do we resolve this?

Well… I can’t attached the file since it’s 1mb in size.

#27894

A lot of “other” converters use MS IE or Mozilla native DLLs to load and render HTML. So the site returns versions, adapted for the browsers.

PD4ML uses our proprietary HTML rendering engine (100% Java, also ported to managed .NET code). It is PDF-output-oriented and it does not support JavaScript. Despite the product name “HTML-to-PDF converter”, PD4ML is not intended for web sites capture. Our goal is on PDF side: it is to allow you to define PDF layouts of any level of complexity with a language everybody knows – HTML.

If you plan to convert popular interactive web sites to PDF, most probably the result will disappoint you. A specialized PDF print driver will do the job better.

#27895

Thanks for the insight. You’ve been very helpful. Thanks again.

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