[LeonM]

I build such a service, but it is impossible to guarantee any reliable result. I ended up shutting it down.

The PDF standard is a mess, and the number of 'tricks' I've seen done is astonishing.

Example: to add shade or border effect to text, most PDF generators simple add the text twice with a subtle offset and different colors. Result: your SaaS service returns every sentence twice.

Off course there were workarounds, but at some point it became unmaintanable.

[shim__]

I'm actually surprised that PDF hasn't been superseded by some form of embedded HTML by now.

[Fnoord]

It partly has: ePub [1], an open format for ebooks, contain HTML.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPUB

[lmm]

I'd say exactly the opposite. PDF makes it easy to create a document that looks exactly the way you want it to, which seems to be all that most web designers want (witness all the sites that force a narrow column on a large screen and won't reflow their text properly on a small screen).

[zo1]

In a way it has. In my experience, there have been multiple times where a "generate PDF" requirement has come up, with the best viable solution being "develop it in HTML using standard tech" followed by "and then convert it to PDF".

[mLuby]

I blame CSS.

[faeyanpiraat]

Why?