Ask HN: Demand for a less complex, yet beautiful alternative to PDFs?

Hi HN,

I recently found myself in a rather annoying situation of having to fork out money for software to edit a PDF. I was irritated because (a) it is not a task I have to do often, and (b) because adjusting a bit of text should simply not be that complicated!

That led me to think that the PDF format is a bit too complicated for the vast majority of use cases, and perhaps an alternative format may be more appropriate. All you essentially require is a format that is capable of storing text, their positions, images (inc SVG), and perhaps even embedded fonts - plus, you need a capable reader that can render that format into a nice looking, scalable document.

Having looked at the spec for PDFs, it's clear the PDF can do a lot (including embedding javascript!), however I think the complexity is unnecessary.

Before I go all in and try to replace the PDF with my own format + reader, do you think this is a worthwhile exercise? Does another alternative already exist? Are you also irritated by the fact that PDFs, while beautiful, are more difficult to edit than they need to be?

Thanks, and stay safe!