Xreader: 2 page view ("Dual") - with non-consecutive pages.

[Lost-Projects]

Hi,
I hope this is the correct place to put this idea / feature request.

I'm reading a lot of instruction manuals at the moment. In a paper manual, the first pages will often contain diagrams of the equipment & these pages can frequently be folded out so they can be seen while the rest of the manual is read. So a few pages in, you may read, "Pull Lever A, then press Button B" and be able to refer to the diagram to see which controls these are.

So I'm wondering how easy it would be for a PDF reader to have a "Dual" mode as currently, but with different pages of the document rather than consecutive pages. So on one side I can see the diagrams, on the other the operating instructions. Ideally, each side could also navigate consecutive pages independently of the other. For example, I'm currently looking a a manual with diagrams on pages 4-6, but the actual usage instructions start on page 10. It would be nice to have the diagrams in one pane and the rest of the manual on the other. This feature would also be useful for documents with glossaries or even just for Contents pages or Indexes.

I realise there are bookmark thumbnails or perhaps there's a way to run two instances of the same document or even open it in a different application, but if dual mode already exists, it might be easy to display non-consecutive pages in each pane (though I imagine independent paging may involve extra work). Anyway, being able to display separate parts of the document side-by-side would be a useful feature.

That's it. Thanks for reading.

[cplittlfield]

It would be a very useful feature, I grant you. It might be a little complicated for Xreader (the Cinnamon Document Viewer), however. Xreader is supposed to be a minimal PDF viewer, just as Windows Notepad is supposed to be a minimal text viewer, not a full-blown word processor.

There are a number of PDF readers available in the repositories that are much richer in features. Don't any of them do what you want?

As for Xviewer, you can get the same effect by opening a copy of the open document with File > Open a copy (Ctrl + N) and positioning the windows side by side. That's what I do, because I'm too lazy to go hunting for a better PDF reader. 🤣

[Lost-Projects]

Thanks for your reply. I am slapping my forehead: Of course other readers are available! I have in fact used Foxit reader in the past. I guess I kind of assumed the the repository is somewhat "curated" and software included in the install has an official stamp of approval.

Also, I didn't spot what open a copy meant and it is indeed a new window. Positioning both side-by side is a perfectly good work-around for this issue. I had tried opening the same document twice and this only shifted focus back the original instance. As Firefox can display PDF's, I could even have done this in two browser windows!

I did a search for "Best Linux PDF readers" and got varied results back. I may have need of a full-featured one, so if I get time, I'll have a look and post a list. I was a bit surprised by how many were praised for their "simplicity". It may be a GUI thing that cinnamon needs it's own reader rather than bundling an existing offering (Firefox is included and is not a "minimal" web-browser). I know there's a bit of a K.I.S.S. philosophy in software development. I wonder what the criteria for inclusion in the distro is? Perhaps Mint could get i't's members to vote on both the best basic applications and the "best in class". The former could be included by default, and the latter offered as a recommended upgrade list.

Anyway, thanks for the reply and for not calling me an idiot.

[cplittlfield]

Even Windows does this. It has always had Notepad as a simple text editor, and then it was up to the user to install an actual word-processing program. The Windows media player (whatever it's called) is along the same lines. So it's the same way with Xed (simple text editor), Xreader (simple PDF reader), and Xviewer (simple image viewer). I believe Xed. Xreader, and Xviewer are Xapps maintained (either currently or formerly) by the Mint dev team.

The more "questionable" inclusions are the full-scale apps such as the LibreOffice suite, Firefox, and Thunderbird. I don't know how they were chosen, or what considerations the team went by. Myself, I use them for my own reasons, and not because they come installed with Linux Mint (I had already used LibreOffice in place of MS Office for years, before switching over to Linux). And even in these cases, of course, users can install applications they prefer. I am back on Firefox for various reasons, but for years I used Vivaldi in its place.

As far as PDF readers go, so far I have stuck with Xreader, but I have noticed many recommendations for Okular on the forums. You might want to check it out, in particular.