MaxtDesign

<p>MaxtDesign PDF Viewer is a performance-focused PDF embedding solution for WordPress. Unlike other PDF plugins that load heavy JavaScript libraries upfront, this plugin uses a smart lazy-loading approach that keeps your pages fast.</p>
<h4>Key Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Instant Preview – Server-generated WebP preview images display immediately</li>
<li>Zero Layout Shift – CSS aspect-ratio reserves exact space before content loads</li>
<li>Lazy Loading – Full PDF.js viewer loads only when needed</li>
<li>Gutenberg Block – Native block editor integration</li>
<li>Shortcode Support – Works in classic editor and widgets</li>
<li>Keyboard Navigation – Full keyboard and screen reader accessibility</li>
<li>Mobile Optimized – Touch gestures for page navigation and zoom</li>
</ul>
<h4>Performance</h4>
<ul>
<li>Initial page load: < 10KB JavaScript</li>
<li>First paint: < 200ms</li>
<li>Full viewer: Loads on-demand</li>
<li>Preview images: Optimized WebP format</li>
</ul>
<h4>How It Works</h4>
<ol>
<li>Upload a PDF to your media library</li>
<li>The plugin automatically extracts the first page as a WebP preview</li>
<li>Insert the PDF using the Gutenberg block or shortcode</li>
<li>Visitors see an instant preview image</li>
<li>Clicking “View Document” loads the interactive PDF.js viewer</li>
</ol>
<h4>Requirements</h4>
<p>For automatic preview generation, your server needs one of:</p>
<ul>
<li>ImageMagick with PDF support (recommended)</li>
<li>Ghostscript</li>
</ul>
<p>The plugin will detect available options and use the best method automatically.</p>
<h4>Shortcode Usage</h4>
<p>[pdf_viewer id=”123″]</p>
<p>Attributes:</p>
<ul>
<li>id (required) – Attachment ID of the PDF</li>
<li>width – CSS width value (default: 100%)</li>
<li>load – When to load viewer: click, visible, immediate (default: click)</li>
<li>toolbar – Show toolbar: true/false (default: true)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
<p>This plugin:</p>
<ul>
<li>Does not collect any personal data</li>
<li>Does not send data to external services</li>
<li>Stores preview images locally on your server</li>
<li>Uses PDF.js library loaded from your own server</li>
</ul>


MaxtDesign PDF Viewer

The fastest PDF viewer for WordPress. Sub-200ms load times, zero layout shift, and a beautiful reading experience.

LordFren

strands

<p>PDF Embed renders PDFs directly in your pages using PDF.js: no plugins for the visitor, no Google Docs iframes, no third-party trackers. PDF.js is bundled inside the plugin and served from your own site, so no third-party requests are ever made.</p>
<p>Built by Fren at Strands Services Ltd. Support: fren@strands.gg.</p>
<p><strong>Features</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Continuous vertical scroll across all pages, with lazy rendering via IntersectionObserver</li>
<li>Page navigation, zoom, fit-to-width, download, and print controls (these toggle which buttons render in the toolbar; they’re a UI choice, not access control; see the Security section)</li>
<li>Global sizing modes: Responsive, Fixed, or Fixed Aspect Ratio (A4, Letter, 16:9, 4:3, 1:1, or custom)</li>
<li>Light, Dark, or Auto color mode (Auto follows the visitor’s OS/browser <code>prefers-color-scheme</code>)</li>
<li>Per-mode color customization (with alpha/transparency support on the Page Shadow field), plus a safely-scoped Custom CSS field for power users</li>
<li>Live preview on the settings page</li>
<li>Editors: Gutenberg block, Classic Editor TinyMCE button, Enfold ALB element, Elementor widget, WPBakery element, and <code>[pdf_embed]</code> shortcode</li>
<li>Media Library picker filtered to PDFs only</li>
<li>Translation-ready (English + Hungarian included)</li>
<li>Theme-overridable viewer template</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Shortcode</strong></p>
<pre><code>[pdf_embed id="123" sizing="responsive" download="yes" navigation="yes" zoom="yes"]
</code></pre>
<p>All attributes are optional except <code>id</code>. Per-embed attrs override the global defaults on the Sizing and Appearance tabs.</p>
<h3>Security</h3>
<ul>
<li>Frontend visitors have no attack surface: no REST endpoints, no AJAX handlers, no form submissions.</li>
<li>Shortcode attribute sanitizers reject any value outside strict whitelists (units, hex/rgba colors, W:H ratios).</li>
<li>Attachment access is gated by <code>current_user_can('read_post', $id)</code>; contributors cannot embed other users’ private PDFs.</li>
<li><code>pdfjsLib.getDocument()</code> is called with <code>isEvalSupported: false</code> to prevent font-based JS execution.</li>
<li>All output is routed through WordPress’s escape functions (<code>esc_html</code>, <code>esc_attr</code>, <code>esc_url</code>, <code>wp_kses</code>, <code>wp_print_inline_script_tag</code>). The release pipeline includes a check that fails the build if a <code>phpcs:ignore</code> for the output-escaping sniff ever appears in shipped code.</li>
<li>Canvas size is clamped to ~268M pixels per page. Page count is capped at 2000 per embed. Both prevent client-side DoS from hostile PDFs.</li>
<li>PDF.js ships inside the plugin and loads only from your own domain; no third-party servers are contacted.</li>
<li>Debug information (attempted mime, extension) is only emitted when <code>WP_DEBUG</code> is on.<br />
<strong>Content-Security-Policy</strong>: the plugin emits one inline <code><style></code> (appearance CSS variables) and one inline <code><script type="module"></code> (PDF.js loader). The script tag is rendered via <code>wp_print_inline_script_tag()</code>, so a CSP supplied through the <code>wp_inline_script_attributes</code> filter is applied automatically. On sites without  wiring, strict CSP needs <code>style-src 'unsafe-inline'</code> and <code>script-src 'unsafe-inline'</code> for the viewer to boot.<br />
<strong>Toolbar toggles are UI affordances, not access control.</strong> The shortcode’s <code>download</code>, <code>navigation</code>, and <code>zoom</code> attributes (and the matching options in the editors) control which buttons appear in the viewer toolbar; they don’t restrict what the visitor’s browser can do once the page is rendered. PDF.js needs the entire PDF in the browser to display it, so the bytes are always reachable from the browser’s network/devtools panel by anyone who can see the page. The <code>pdfEmbedGetInstance(container)</code> JS handle also exposes the underlying viewer methods regardless of which buttons render. If you need to keep a PDF away from a viewer, gate the <strong>post</strong> behind WordPress’s permission system (private/draft, role-restricted, members-only plugin). Don’t rely on the toolbar toggles.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Third-party libraries</h3>
<p>The plugin bundles minified copies of these libraries under <code>assets/js/vendor/</code>. Full un-minified source is available from each project’s repository at the pinned version listed below:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>PDF.js</strong> 5.7.284 (<code>pdf.min.js</code>, <code>pdf.worker.min.js</code>) — Apache 2.0 — https://github.com/mozilla/pdf.js/releases/tag/v5.7.284</li>
<li><strong>wp-color-picker-alpha</strong> 3.0.4 (<code>wp-color-picker-alpha.min.js</code>) — GPL-2.0-or-later — https://github.com/kallookoo/wp-color-picker-alpha</li>
<li><strong>Phosphor Icons</strong> (inline SVG, Regular weight) — MIT — https://github.com/phosphor-icons/core</li>
</ul>
<p>The plugin’s own PHP, JS, and CSS is shipped as-is without minification so the deployed code is also the source.</p>


Strands PDF Embed

Embed PDFs from your Media Library with a responsive viewer. Works with Gutenberg, Classic Editor, Enfold ALB, Elementor, and WPBakery.

MaxtDesign PDF Viewer vs Strands PDF Embed