Let's try to solve the Lesson Note PDF problem for Mac users

[watermen]

Ok, I know this issue was brought up in the past and Jpod101 solved it by having 2 versions of PDF - Lesson note and Lesson note lite.

However, I don't think this is a good solution, the lite version has a huge downside, the display is ugly and not elegant. Having used to study from the old PDFs under preview, those old PDFs are definitely more elegant under preview than the current one.

More importantly, there are some lessons' PDF that offer no lite version, that essentially force a Mac user to use Acrobat reader to read the PDF. Reading PDF with Acrobat in a Mac is slow, the font is even more ugly than the lite version. This make reading very difficult, especially if you were to read lessons with a lot of hiragana and katakana.

I just started a thread in some major Mac forums including Apple's discussion rooms seeking for help to solve this problem. I hope Jpod101 crew who is involved in making the PDF can help and participate in providing information like how the PDF was made and what program was used etc... to help solve this problem once and for all.

[watermen]

I just realized that I cannot make annotation to the PDF under Acrobat reader. And this is very frustrating, because Jpod does not explain some difficult grammars or vocabs sometime, so I have to make annotation. (By the way, I am referring to PDF that offer no lite version, meaning the only way for me to read those PDF is to use Acrobat reader.)

[Belton]

Is there any reason it *has* to be a pdf document?
I haven't looked recently but it doesn't seem to be locked down much.
A html document or an rtf file would seem to be more convenient all around. Probably easier to generate as well.

[watermen]

Is there any reason it *has* to be a pdf document?
I haven't looked recently but it doesn't seem to be locked down much.
A html document or an rtf file would seem to be more convenient all around. Probably easier to generate as well.

I think PDF is easier to read and better for storage.

[Yamanchu]

Watermen, I don't understand what your problem is. I also use a Mac. And have no problem downloading and reading either version of the pdf. Do you have the latest version of pdf reader?

[watermen]

Watermen, I don't understand what your problem is. I also use a Mac. And have no problem downloading and reading either version of the pdf. Do you have the latest version of pdf reader?

Are you sure you can read the PDF with Preview?

Since Jpod101 changed the way it writes PDF, Mac users have not been able to view the lesson note with Preview, to view with Preview, we must use the lite version, this is the solution Jpod101 made 1 year ago for Mac user. There was an extensive discussion about this issue, and quite a lot of mac users are not happy with Jpod101 about this change.

Sure, Mac user can use Adobe reader too. However, Adobe is slow and bulky on Mac, more importantly, you can't annotate with the free version of adobe. The font and the way it displayed also make reading difficult. Preview on the other hand, can display Japanese character elegantly. You can compare an old lesson PDF and a new one, and you will know what I mean.

I re-open this topic, because I would like someone from Jpod to tell us how they create the PDF, I am posting this issue on some Mac forums, hopefully someone may have a solution to it.

[Yamanchu]

Have you installed all the Japanese fonts onto your machine? I have a mac and a pc, if I use an older version of Acrobat on the pc, it won't display the fonts either. But using the latest version of Acrobat reader on the pc and mac, both work fine.

[Yamanchu]

Although this is pretty basic, I wonder if JPod101 embed the fonts into the pdf files when they make them. I work in the printing/design industry and make pdf's all the time for our customers. If you embed the fonts into the file, which doesn't ad much to the file size, a pdf should be clear and readable on any machine (Mac or PC), which has the latest version of Acrobat Reader.

[watermen]

Have you installed all the Japanese fonts onto your machine? I have a mac and a pc, if I use an older version of Acrobat on the pc, it won't display the fonts either. But using the latest version of Acrobat reader on the pc and mac, both work fine.

I have been using Jpod since they launched and never have such a problem until they change their format last year. So do you think I don't have Japanese fonts installed? By the way, with Mac OS, it comes with all major languages fonts, don't even need to install anything.

Can you view the "Lesson Note" in Preview? If you can let us know how you do it. Of course Acrobat reader can open any PDF files, BUT like I said, the font is ugly and the display makes it difficult to read!

[watermen]

Is it possible for Jpod101 to change the fonts used in the PDF?

The current font used is ArialUnicodeMS, can you change it to MSMincho?

MSMincho font is easier to the eye when it comes to reading.

By changing to MSMincho, I think it may help solve the problem as well.

I tested it with Acrobat Pro 9.1.3, I converted Jpod101 PDF by using the printer's saving mode, therefore I can open it in Preview. It is through this conversion, I realized that it is the font issue that makes the characters so ugly and difficult to read.

By the way, after converting the PDF through Acrobat Pro, the file size was reduced dramatically, from nearly 500KB to less than 80KB.

[Yamanchu]

Watermen, when I installed OS10, on the update disk they had 'extras' for Asian language support, which I also installed. So whether these are fonts or what I don't know, but I installed this and the pdf's are always readable and very clear.

These files are given to us as pdf Acrobat files, so I use Acrobat to read them, I don't have a problem with Acrobat Reader, it works, so I use it.

Can I view the 'Lesson Note' in Preview? No, it doesn't work, so I don't use it.

[watermen]

Can I view the 'Lesson Note' in Preview? No, it doesn't work, so I don't use it.

Exactly, that is the whole issue of this topic.


By the way, can someone from Jpod101 respond to this thread?

[Yamanchu]

So, given that the files read well in Acrobat, it clearly indicates that this is an Apple/Preview issue, and not the fault of JPod.

[watermen]

So, given that the files read well in Acrobat, it clearly indicates that this is an Apple/Preview issue, and not the fault of JPod.

Before the change, Mac user has no problem reading it with Preview.

I tried using Acrobat Pro to re-saved the file, after being "resaved", the file can be read under Preview without any issue. Therefore this is not a really a Apple/Preview problem. This problem can be solved by Jpod.

Beside, I am also suggesting Jpod to change the font in the lesson note to MSMincho. It makes reading easier.

[cwabbott]

More importantly, there are some lessons' PDF that offer no lite version, that essentially force a Mac user to use Acrobat reader to read the PDF.

Hello Watermen,

we would love to add any missing Lesson Notes Lite PDFs to lessons where they should be. Please feel free to post links to lessons here so we can quickly generate and attach the Lesson Notes Lite to those lessons. Lessons before we swapped to the new PDF generation software should only have a single PDF (that will work in all viewers, however with limited functionality), lessons after the swap should indeed have both the Lesson Notes and Lesson Notes Lite.

Thank you,
Charles Abbott