Improved iPad UX, thumbnail browser, and annotation selection in 7.0.3 for iOS

We are excited to announce version 7.0.3 of PDFTron's iOS SDK.

With this release, a PDF and the navigation lists sit side-by-side, thumbnails can be filtered by bookmarks/annotations, annotations can be quickly selected and precisely moved, and more.

We've updated our iPad UX so that the navigation lists (the document outline, annotation list and bookmarks) are displayed alongside the PDF. This way the user can use them to move through the document without constantly having to open and close it, open and close it.

This new behavior can be controlled via a new API on the PTDocumentViewController.

Annotations are now selected the instant a tap gesture is performed. Previously, the system would wait until the double tap gesture had failed, leading to a slight delay between tapping an annotation and its selection. This delay has been eliminated, creating a more responsive UX.

Additionally, annotations can now be moved small distances with precision. The PDFTron SDK has long included a threshold above which an annotation must be moved before the move is registered, which is necessary to prevent tiny accidental re-positionings. Previously, when the threshold was met, the annotation would be moved to "catch up" with the finger, creating a hop. Now, when the threshold is met, the annotation starts to move one pixel at a time. The result is a nearly imperceptible initial lag when moving an annotation, with the benefit of being able to easily achieve pixel-level perception when moving an annotation small distances.

Finally, we have added snap-to guidelines to make it easy to maintain an annotation's aspect ratio.

The thumbnail browser now supports filtering, allowing the user to display only pages that have been annotated or bookmarked. This allows the user to display only pages that are "important" to them, indicated as such by the fact they have annotated it, or bookmarked it.

For a complete list of changes, including an API diff, please see our change log for a list of all changes in this release.

We hope you like these changes and any feedback is greatly appreciated. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions.

We also have many exciting new features planned for the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned!