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I've been using Firefox to view PDFs and it works fine. Recently though I wanted to try something more minimal with vim keybindings. Found two options: Zathura and tdf (terminal pdf viewer).

What I'm curious about is why someone would choose a TUI pdf viewer over a regular one (like Zathura). What are the actual advantages people find in practice. tdf mentions being fast but I wonder if that's something you'd actually notice day to day?

Also I remember seeing screenshots where PDFs looked transparent or matched the terminal colors. Is that actually a feature of some of these viewers ? Maybe someone uses one here?

Tdf seems relatively popular with 1.4k github stars.

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[-] CkrnkFrnchMn@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 month ago

What's wrong with "Evince"...? (that's the only one which comes to mind right now..)

[-] chasteinsect@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

I personally want something more minimal.

[-] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Gnome+isms, which why Atril. But both are slow with big PDF, have font-size issues with pdf forms (but to their defense; everything PDF aside basics is a mess) and are even slower with comicbook and barely usable for epub. In short, they are jack of all, ~~master of~~ good at none.

this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2025
45 points (97.9% liked)

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