Governments really should be forced to use open formats.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/XFA
"In 2017 the ISO Committee deprecated XFA from PDF 2.0.[4]"
this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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Adobe is a bloated garbage company that hasn't truly innovated in a decade, they're just hoarding their proprietary tools and formats to squeeze as much money out of customers as possible.
Their CMS and their analytics are fucking awful. Such a convoluted mess. They make all the wrong decisions, and then criticize when you don't use their recommended approach. They don't even understand the basics of good website development, why would we follow their recommendations?
What is so fantastic/irreplaceable about this format?
Adobe profitting off your misery. That the Canadian govt is using it makes me think if the adoption was similar to how things usually happen down here in Brazil: new head of IT has a "great idea" (which he suspiciously got after meeting with a representative of a company) and demands it to be implemented ASAP. 3 months later, with everything needing the "great thing", head of IT is dismissed from his position, everyone else hates the new thing, but now it's completely rooted into half the digital workflows.
Before you post a snappy "just do X" or "try this software" try it yourself consent-letter-2123.pdf my complaint is not trivial.
Very disappointed that the Canadian government uses them so much. I'm open to changing my mind if there is an explanation as to why this format is irreplaceable. Like maybe it offers some security feature or the like?
I have a form like this I do regularly for work. I actually fax the form, I don't even send it electronically. But I like to fill it electronically so I have my records on the computer. Because it is 2023. I had to use my home computer (linux) to generate a copy of the form, then use a floss editor I managed to get working on windows work computer to annotate on top of the form fields. For some reason it's really hard to get the annotations to line up with the form fields. So sometimes I have to correct it by hand after printing to clarify.
It is a zero security form, there is no need to have all this rigamarole. The form is freely available on the internet and anyone with a fucking fax machine could fill it in and send it on behalf of anyone else. Fax machine is the biggest hurdle; who the hell has one of those.
This probably isn't the case in all places, but basically all of the libraries in my area have a fax machine that you can use. A godsend when your only choice is either a fax or a web submission that may or may not work properly.
Fill it out like a paper form using a stylus or the text-typing-feature in handwriting programs, and let them deal themselves with it 💁
https://travel.gc.ca/docs/child/consent-letter-2123.pdf Open the form and try it yourself. What you are saying doesn't work for this form. You need the scripts embedded in the form to create the final consent letter.
Took a bit of looking around, but it looks like this may work:
Adobe does sell licences for other companies to use the XFA format but even the software you linked has a free reader that pushes you to the paid full version. Also not FOSS.
Horrible. Same goes for government 's WhatsApp Bots to get appointments or consult status for your paperwork, like driving license and the likes.