DEV Community: Edward Chapman

Free SRA Website Compliance Checker for UK Law Firms

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 18:35:28 +0000

The Problem

Between May 2023 and September 2024, the SRA issued:

838 warning letters for transparency violations
55 fixed penalty fines (£750 first offense, £1,500 repeat)

Most firms had no idea their website was non-compliant until the letter arrived.

Why Manual Reviews Miss Gaps

You know where everything is on your website. A visitor doesn't. The SRA Transparency Rules are about what a stranger can find, not what you know exists.

The most common gaps:

❌ Missing SRA digital badge (must be the live badge, not a saved image)
❌ Complaints information not prominently displayed
❌ Price transparency missing for advertised services
❌ SRA number not displayed correctly

What This Tool Does

We built a free checker that reads your public pages the way the SRA does:

Enter your firm's website (no account needed)
Wait ~2 minutes while we scan up to 40 public pages
See what was found and what wasn't with evidence

The check shows:

✓ SRA number location
✓ Digital badge presence (and whether it's the live badge)
✓ Complaints information accessibility
✓ Price transparency assessment for advertised services

How It Works

Public pages only - we read what any visitor can see
No account required for the free check
Evidence included - see exactly which pages were checked
Not a certificate - results are detected or not detected, never compliant or non-compliant

Why We Built This

After analyzing 6,300+ UK law firm websites, we found that 75% had at least one gap. The SRA runs ongoing web sweeps, and firms usually learn about issues only when a warning letter arrives.

This tool lets you check your own site before they do.

Run your free check →

What Happens After a Warning Letter

If you've already received one:

Map the letter to the actual rules - check each breach against the Transparency Rules wording
Fix everything, not just named items - follow-up reviews aren't limited to the original breaches
Reply within the deadline with a clear record of changes
Review regularly - repeat breaches within 3 years double the penalty

Full enforcement guide →

Related Guides

Questions? This tool is maintained by Firm Beacon. We're independent and not affiliated with the SRA.

Complaints information on law firm websites: what the SRA expects to see

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:16:59 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

Complaints information was found on 87% of the 5,770 sites scanned in August 2026. It is not the most common gap, but when it is missing it tends to be missing quietly, which is what makes it worth checking.

What the rules require

Your public website should show:

How someone complains to you, including who to contact and how
What happens next, including timescales
How to escalate to the Legal Ombudsman, named, with contact details

It needs to be on your public site, not only in your terms of engagement or a client care letter.

The usual gaps

The information exists but is not called complaints. A "Client Care" page that mentions handling issues may not read as complaints information.

The Legal Ombudsman is not named. Firms often describe an internal process without naming the Ombudsman or giving contact details.

It is in a PDF or behind a login. The rules want it where a stranger can find it.

It was lost in a redesign. A complaints page disappeared and nobody noticed, because clients rarely look for it.

How to check

Open your site as a visitor and try to find, in under two minutes:

How to complain to the firm
The Legal Ombudsman, named
The Ombudsman contact details
When someone can escalate

If you cannot find them quickly, neither can anyone else.

What the scan found across the five items

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

A caveat

"Not found" means the scan did not detect the item on the pages it read on the scan date. It may sit on a page the scan did not reach, or may have been added since. It is not a legal opinion and it is not a statement that any firm has broken a rule.

Methodology

The scan read public pages only, respected robots.txt, and cross-checked SRA numbers against the SRA register. It covered 5,770 SRA-regulated firm websites across 808 towns in England and Wales in August 2026.

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

Full breakdown: firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics

Price transparency is the biggest gap on UK law firm websites

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:16:10 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

Of the items the SRA Transparency Rules require on a law firm website, price information is the one most often missing. On the pages scanned, it was found on 6% of sites.

What the rules require

For covered services, your public website should show:

A price or price range
What that price includes
Typical timescales
Your experience in that area

Covered services include residential conveyancing, uncontested probate, immigration (excluding asylum), summary-only motoring offences, employment tribunal work, debt recovery up to 100,000 and licensing applications.

Why this one is different

The badge and the complaints wording are one-time jobs. Prices are not. The rules want service-specific ranges, and firms change prices, add services and drop services. Keeping that current is ongoing work, which is why it slips.

The four usual mistakes

A general "Our Fees" page that describes hourly rates instead of the covered services
Ranges so wide they do not inform anyone
Price information only available after you contact the firm
A pricing page that exists but sits too deep in the site to find

What good looks like

For a freehold purchase, something in the shape of: a range by property value band, a list of what is included such as searches and Land Registry fees, a typical timescale, and a statement of how many similar matters the firm handled in the last year.

What the scan found across the five items

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

A caveat

Methodology

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

Full breakdown: firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics

Why so many UK law firms have the wrong SRA digital badge

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:14:19 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

The SRA digital badge is the small blue box in a lot of site footers. The requirement is not that a badge image appears. It is that the badge is the live embed, the one that links to your SRA record.

What the scan found

Across 5,770 SRA-regulated firm websites scanned in August 2026, the clickable badge was found on 88% of sites and not found on 12%.

So the badge is not the widespread problem it is sometimes described as. The more common issue is subtler: a badge that appears but is a saved image rather than the live embed.

How to tell the difference

Click it.

If it opens the SRA site showing your firm record, it is the live embed
If nothing happens, or it opens your own site, it is not

How it happens

Most firms added a badge image years ago when the site was built. Then the site was redesigned, the CMS was updated, and nobody rechecked whether the badge still linked anywhere. Visually nothing changed, so nothing looked wrong.

How to fix it

The SRA publishes the embed code. Copy it, replace the saved image in your footer, and click it to confirm it works.

What the scan found across the five items

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

A caveat

Methodology

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

Full breakdown: firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics

What the SRA checks on a law firm website, and how to check it yourself

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:11:55 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

The SRA runs automated sweeps of law firm websites, checking for the information the Transparency Rules require. Most firms find out about a gap when the letter arrives.

What a sweep looks for

1. Your SRA number

Visible as text on your public pages, not buried where a visitor cannot reasonably find it.

Common gap: the number exists somewhere but is hard to locate.

2. The clickable SRA digital badge

The embedded badge that links to your SRA record, not a saved image that looks like it.

Common gap: the badge was downloaded as an image years ago and never updated. It looks correct but does not link anywhere.

3. Complaints information

How someone complains to you, and how they escalate to the Legal Ombudsman. The Ombudsman needs to be named.

Common gap: a complaints procedure exists but is hard to find, or the Ombudsman is not named.

4. Price information

For services covered by the rules, published price ranges, what is included, timescales and experience.

Common gap: a general fees page that does not cover the specific services the rules list.

Why gaps happen

Redesigns that drop pages. Content that moves. CMS updates that change templates. None of it is intentional, and all of it is invisible from inside the firm.

What the scan found

Across 5,770 SRA-regulated firm websites scanned in August 2026:

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

Price information is the gap that stands out. It is also the one that needs ongoing maintenance rather than a single fix.

A caveat

Methodology

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

Full breakdown: firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics

How to check your law firm website against the SRA transparency rules

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:09:50 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

What the rules cover

The SRA Transparency Rules ask your public website to show:

Your SRA number
The clickable SRA digital badge, not a saved image
Complaints information, including how to escalate to the Legal Ombudsman
Price information for the services you advertise that the rules cover

Why gaps appear

The usual causes are mundane. A redesign drops a page. Hosting moves and old links break. A template change removes a footer section. Content gets rebuilt by someone who was not thinking about regulatory requirements.

How to check it

Open your site as a visitor, not as an admin
Find your SRA number in the page text
Click your badge and see whether it opens your SRA record
Find your complaints information and check the Legal Ombudsman is named
Find price information for each covered service you advertise

If any of those takes more than a minute to find, that is the finding.

What the scan found

Across 5,770 SRA-regulated firm websites scanned in August 2026:

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

Price information is the outlier by a wide margin, and it is also the item that needs maintenance rather than a one-off edit.

A caveat

Methodology

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

Full breakdown: firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics

Check whether your law firm website shows what the SRA Transparency Rules ask for

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:43:24 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

What the rules ask for

Your public website needs to show four things:

Your SRA number
The clickable SRA digital badge, not a saved image of it
Complaints information, including the Legal Ombudsman
Price information for the services you advertise that the rules cover

Why firms miss gaps

You know where everything is on your site. The rules are about what a stranger can find. Those are different tests, and they diverge after a redesign, a CMS update, or a change of marketing agency.

What the scan found

Across 5,770 SRA-regulated firm websites scanned in August 2026:

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

Check your own site

Enter your domain and the check reads your public pages and records which of the five items it found. It shows which pages were read and what was found on each, so you can verify the result yourself.

firmbeacon.co.uk

What it does not do

It does not label you compliant or non-compliant. Results are "found" or "not found". "Not found" means the scan did not detect the item on the pages it read on the scan date. It may sit on a page the scan did not reach, or may have been added since. It is not a legal opinion and it is not a statement that any firm has broken a rule.

Methodology

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

The full national breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics.

I scanned 5,770 UK law firm websites. Price transparency is the gap that stands out.

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:43:04 +0000

Correction, 6 October 2026. An earlier version of this post reported a dataset of 6,300 sites and different percentages, and cited enforcement figures I could not substantiate. Those numbers were wrong and I have removed them. The figures below come from the published scan and the full breakdown is public at firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics. Sorry for the earlier version.

I wanted to know how many UK law firm websites actually show the information the SRA Transparency Rules require. So I scanned them.

What the scan covered

5,770 SRA-regulated law firm websites in England and Wales
Public pages only, the same view a visitor gets
Five items recorded: SRA number, clickable SRA badge, complaints information, Legal Ombudsman mention, price information
Scanned August 2026, across 808 towns

What it found

SRA number readable: found on 79% of sites, not found on 21%
Clickable SRA badge: found on 88%, not found on 12%
Complaints information: found on 87%, not found on 13%
Legal Ombudsman mention: found on 74%, not found on 26%
Price information: found on 6%, not found on 94%

The gap that stands out

Most firms are not far off. Four of the five items are present on the large majority of sites, and the SRA number, badge and complaints information are all in the high eighties.

Price information is different. On the pages the scan read, only 6% of sites showed any price information for a service covered by the rules. That is not a marginal difference, it is a different order of magnitude from everything else in the table.

There is a plausible reason. The badge and the complaints wording are one-time jobs. You add them and forget them. Prices change, and the rules ask for a price range, what is included, typical timescales and your experience level for each service you advertise. That is content someone has to maintain.

What the rules ask for

For services such as residential conveyancing, uncontested probate, immigration (excluding asylum), summary-only motoring offences, employment tribunal work, debt recovery up to 100,000 and licensing applications, the rules expect published price information.

The detail that trips firms up is usually the same handful of things:

A general "Our Fees" page instead of service-specific ranges
No indication of what the price includes
No typical timescale
No statement of experience in that area
Price information that only appears after you contact the firm

A caveat that matters

Methodology

Per-town results and the full national breakdown are published at the link below. The raw findings are also offered as a CSV for anyone who wants to check the work.

Check your own site

You can see what the scan recorded for any firm, and run the same check against your own domain, from the statistics page.

firmbeacon.co.uk/statistics

Adding page numbers to PDFs in your browser

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 07:25:48 +0000

Adding page numbers to PDFs in your browser

Page numbers make a PDF easier to discuss. Instead of pointing someone to a section and asking them to search for it, you can say "see page 12". That is useful for contracts, reports, application packs, technical documents, and anything else that gets reviewed by more than one person.

You can add visible page numbers without installing desktop software or sending the document to a server.

How the browser workflow works

The browser reads the selected PDF, adds a label to each page, and creates a new file for download. The original file stays on your computer while the work is being done.

The basic steps are:

Select a PDF from your device.
Choose the first page number.
Choose where the label should appear.
Generate and download the numbered PDF.

The page number is added as visible text. It does not depend on the source PDF already containing selectable text, so the same approach also works for scanned PDFs. It adds numbering only. It does not perform OCR or turn a scan into searchable text.

Choosing a position

The most common choice is the bottom centre of the page. Bottom right is useful for documents that already have centred footer content. A top position can work better when the footer contains a disclaimer, signature block, or other fixed text.

The available positions are:

Bottom centre
Bottom right
Top centre
Top right

You can also set the first number. For example, entering 3 produces Page 3 of 10 on the first page and continues from there. This is useful when a cover sheet or an earlier section belongs to the same document but is not part of the file you are processing.

File limits

Browser processing is a good fit for one small or medium-sized PDF. The tool accepts one file up to 50 MiB and 50 pages. Larger documents can use more memory and take longer to process, so a desktop or command-line workflow may be a better choice for them.

The tool does not upload or save the selected PDF. The file content stays in the browser, and the output is downloaded back to your device. This makes the workflow useful for documents that you do not want to hand to an online conversion service.

You can add page numbers to a PDF in your browser if you want to try the workflow.

When another tool is a better fit

Adding page numbers is a narrow job. Use a different workflow when you need to:

Add OCR to a scanned document
Number hundreds of pages or process many files in one batch
Create complex headers and footers
Edit existing PDF text
Apply document-specific numbering rules across several files

For a single PDF under the file limits, a browser tool is usually quicker than installing software or writing a script. The original remains available on your device, and you can check the downloaded copy before sharing it.

Convert PDF pages to PNG in your browser without uploading the file

Edward Chapman — Tue, 06 Oct 2026 06:53:06 +0000

Convert PDF pages to PNG in your browser without uploading the file

PDFs are convenient for sharing, but they are awkward when you need an image of a page. A screenshot can be blurry, a desktop PDF application may be unavailable, and uploading a document is not always acceptable.

Converting each page to PNG gives you separate image files that are easy to inspect, add to a presentation, attach to a ticket, or use in another image-based workflow. PNG is especially useful when the page contains small text, diagrams, forms, or line drawings.

When PNG is the right format

PNG preserves sharp edges well. Text, logos, diagrams, and screenshots usually look cleaner in PNG than in a heavily compressed image format. The tradeoff is file size. A PNG page can be larger than a JPG version of the same page, particularly when the PDF contains photographs or full-page colour backgrounds.

If you need compact images for a website or a quick message, JPG may be the better choice. If you need readable text or clean line art, PNG is often worth the extra size.

A browser-local workflow

The basic process is simple:

Open the PDF to PNG converter.
Select one PDF from your device.
Choose the conversion button.
Wait while the browser renders each page.
Download the individual PNG files you need.

Each page becomes its own numbered PNG download. You can save only selected pages instead of generating a new document or exporting the entire file through a desktop application.

The converter accepts one PDF up to 50 MiB and 50 pages. Large or complex documents may need more memory in the browser, so a conversion can take longer on a device with limited available memory.

What browser-local means for privacy

The converter reads the selected PDF in the browser and renders the pages on your device. Firm Beacon does not receive or save the PDF for the conversion. You do not need an account or an email address.

That does not mean the page is disconnected from the internet. Loading the tool still makes the normal website requests, such as loading the page, its JavaScript and any configured anonymous analytics. The important distinction is that the PDF content is not sent to the site as part of the conversion.

This can be useful for documents that you would rather not upload to a third-party conversion service. You should still follow your organisation's rules for handling confidential files, and you should avoid using a shared computer for sensitive documents.

Check the output before using it

Image conversion changes the document. Before sending or publishing the PNG files, open a few of them and compare them with the original PDF.

Check the first page, a page from the middle, and the last page. Look for missing content, unreadable small text, unexpected rotation, or pages that did not finish rendering. Keep the original PDF until you have checked the images you need.

Remember that the result is an image. The converter does not run OCR, so text in the PNG is not automatically selectable or editable. If you need searchable text, use an OCR workflow instead. If you need to preserve the original text structure, an image export is the wrong output format.

Limits to keep in mind

The tool is designed for a straightforward browser conversion: one PDF, up to 50 MiB and 50 pages, with one PNG download per page. It does not combine the images into a ZIP file, edit the PDF, or turn scanned text into editable text.

Very large pages and complicated PDFs can use substantial browser memory. If the conversion does not complete, try a shorter document or use a device with more available memory. For a smaller output, compare the result with a PDF to JPG workflow instead.

For a quick, no-account conversion, try the free PDF to PNG tool. The PDF to PNG guide covers the same workflow and the format tradeoffs in more detail.

Fill PDF Forms in Your Browser Without Uploading Anything

Edward Chapman — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 20:59:40 +0000

Fill PDF Forms in Your Browser Without Uploading Anything

You've downloaded a PDF form from a government agency, a university, or a client. It has text boxes, checkboxes, maybe a dropdown or two. You need to fill it out and send it back. The obvious route is to print it, write everything by hand, scan it, and email the result. That works, but it's slow and the output looks dated.

The other obvious route is to upload the PDF to an online service. That's faster, but now you're trusting a third party with whatever information is on that form. If it's a tax document, a medical intake, or an HR form, you might not want it sitting on someone else's server.

There's a third option: fill the form locally in your browser. No upload, no server, no trust handoff. The file never leaves your machine.

Interactive PDFs vs flat scans

Not every PDF is fillable. When you scan a paper form or save a Word document as PDF without embedded fields, you get a flat image. The text looks like text, but the PDF has no idea where the blanks are. Those scans require OCR, manual annotation, or a print-and-pen workflow.

An interactive PDF is different. It contains AcroForm fields: named text boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons, and dropdowns embedded in the file. When you open it in Acrobat or most browsers, you can click into those fields and type. The form structure is already there.

If you can tab between fields in your browser or PDF reader, it may be an AcroForm. The reliable check is whether the form exposes standard interactive fields rather than only a page image.

XFA and certificate-based signatures are out of scope

Two kinds of interactive PDFs fall outside what a browser-based tool can handle.

XFA (XML Forms Architecture) is an Adobe format that embeds a dynamic XML form inside the PDF. XFA forms can show or hide fields based on your answers, recalculate totals, and pull data from external sources. They require Adobe Reader or Acrobat to work properly. Most browsers can't render them, and lightweight PDF libraries can't fill them. If you open a PDF and see a yellow banner saying the form requires Adobe Reader, it's probably XFA.

Certificate-based signature fields use public key infrastructure to prove identity. Filling one requires a digital certificate issued by a certificate authority, not just typing your name. A browser tool can't generate or sign with those certificates, so signature fields that require cryptographic validation are skipped.

If the form is a standard AcroForm without XFA or cryptographic signatures, a browser tool can handle it.

How it works

The workflow is straightforward:

Open the tool page in your browser.
Click the file picker and select a PDF from your local disk.
The browser reads the file using JavaScript and a PDF library. The PDF is parsed in memory. Nothing is uploaded.
The tool displays every fillable field it finds: text boxes, checkboxes, radio buttons, dropdowns.
You type into the text boxes, check the checkboxes, select dropdown options, and choose radio buttons.
You click the download button. The tool writes your entries into the PDF structure and triggers a browser download.
You open the downloaded copy and verify every field before sending it.

The entire process runs in the browser tab. The tool makes the usual page load requests and anonymous analytics pings, but the PDF content and your form data never leave the client.

Limits and edge cases

The tool accepts one PDF at a time, up to 25 MiB. It displays up to 500 fields. If a PDF contains more than 500 fields, choose a shorter form or another workflow.

Encrypted PDFs may fail if they require a password to open or modify. Damaged PDFs with broken cross-reference tables or missing metadata may also fail. An encrypted, damaged or otherwise unsupported PDF can fail even when it looks readable in another viewer.

The tool does not write to flat scans, does not render XFA forms, and does not sign certificate-based signature fields. If a field requires a digital certificate, it will be skipped.

Practical workflow

Here's a checklist for filling a form without uploading it:

Download the PDF from the source (agency, employer, school).
Open it in your browser or PDF reader to confirm it has interactive fields. If you can tab between blanks or click into a text box, it's fillable.
Go to the tool page: https://www.firmbeacon.co.uk/tools/pdf-form-filler?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=pdf_form_filler
Click the file picker and select the PDF. The browser reads it locally and displays the fields.
Fill out every field. Text boxes take typed input, checkboxes toggle on click, dropdowns show a list of options, radio buttons are mutually exclusive within a group.
Click the download button. The tool writes your entries into the PDF and triggers a download.
Open the downloaded copy in a PDF reader. Check every field to confirm the entries appear correctly. Some PDF readers cache the blank version, so close and reopen if you see the old state.
If everything looks right, send the filled PDF. If a field is missing or looks wrong, go back to the tool and correct it.

Why local processing matters

Forms can contain personal information. When you upload a PDF to a web service, you are asking that service to handle the file and its contents. Local processing keeps the selected PDF and your entries in the browser instead.

Local processing removes that trust requirement. The file is read by your browser, processed in memory, and written back to disk. The tool code runs on your machine, not a remote server. If you're filling a sensitive form, that's a meaningful difference.

For standard AcroForms, this workflow is the intended use. Fill the form in the browser, download the result, verify it, and send it.

https://www.firmbeacon.co.uk/tools/pdf-form-filler?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=pdf_form_filler

Resizing a photo to 1200x630 without stretching: why the result can be 840x630

Edward Chapman — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 01:56:36 +0000

A photo that looks stretched usually has a width-to-height ratio that differs from its original. Resizing a 4:3 photo into a 16:9 rectangle by changing both dimensions independently makes the objects in it wider or narrower.

Keeping the aspect ratio avoids that distortion. It doesn't mean the result will fill every box you give it, though. That distinction matters when a website asks for an image at a specific size.

Maximum dimensions and exact dimensions

Maximum width and height describe a box the image must fit inside. Both output dimensions must stay below their limits, but they don't both have to reach them. The image can keep its original shape.

Exact dimensions describe the required output rectangle. If its ratio differs from the source, you need to choose between cropping, adding padding and stretching. Cropping removes content. Padding keeps the content but adds a border or bars. Stretching changes the proportions.

Before choosing a tool, check which result you need. A content image with a maximum width is a different job from a social preview card that must have an exact shape.

A 4032x3024 photo in a 1200x630 box

This source photo has a 4:3 ratio. Scaling its width to 1200 would give a height of 900, which exceeds the 630-pixel limit.

Instead, scale by the height: 4032 multiplied by 630, divided by 3024, gives a width of 840. The fitted result is 840x630. It stays within both limits and preserves the source ratio, but it isn't 1200x630.

To fill an exact 1200x630 rectangle without stretching, crop the source to the target ratio in an editor first, or use an editor that adds padding. Choose the crop yourself if important content is near the edges.

The same issue appears with 1920x1080. A 3000x2000 source has a 3:2 ratio. Fitting it into that box gives 1620x1080, not 1920x1080. A 16:9 source can reach both target dimensions if it is large enough and the tool allows that output size. A smaller source won't reach them in a tool that never enlarges images.

Dimensions and file size are separate

Reducing dimensions removes pixel data. Choosing PNG's lossless encoding doesn't undo that resizing step or restore the removed pixels.

JPEG and WebP quality settings affect encoding too. A smaller output isn't guaranteed: re-encoding an already compressed image can make its file larger. Compare the result with the original and inspect the preview before replacing anything.

Transparency is another decision. JPEG doesn't support it. The Firm Beacon resizer fills transparent areas with white when exporting JPEG; PNG or WebP can keep transparency.

What the browser tool does

I work on Firm Beacon. Its free image resizer uses maximum dimensions and processes one selected JPG, PNG or WebP in the browser. It doesn't crop, stretch or enlarge the image, and it requires no account.

The input limit is 20 MiB, with neither side above 8,192 pixels and no more than 24 million pixels in total. The 4032x3024 example has about 12.2 million pixels, so it meets the dimension limits; its file still needs to meet the byte limit.

The selected image, filename, dimensions and settings aren't uploaded or saved by the tool. Loading the page still makes normal website and analytics requests. Analytics can record resizing and downloading actions without those image details.

The Canvas export produces a still image without the original camera metadata or animation. Keep your original if you need either.

Before downloading, check the output dimensions, transparency and file size. If your destination requires an exact rectangle, make sure you haven't mistaken a maximum-size setting for a crop.

Try the resizer: https://www.firmbeacon.co.uk/tools/image-resizer?utm_source=devto&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=image_resizer_guide