| Bill Jonas on Sat, 4 May 2002 16:44:14 -0400 |
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On Sat, May 04, 2002 at 02:44:36PM -0400, Art Clemons wrote: > There's always downloading and installing Plugger to avoid having to > tell Mozilla/Netscape or Opera to open the pdf with xpdf. For clarification, I was referring to the dialog shown at <http://www.billjonas.com/mozilla-open-file-dialog>. > I tend to agree with Doug on this though, even text can be misconstrued > in some circumstances. PDFs offer a common easy to reproduce view that > most Linux users already have at least one way to view, or can easily > find and compile or download one. Right tool for the job. If you're providing something that will be mostly sent to hard copy and must look a certain way, then I agree that PDF is a good choice. If the document in question has lots of graphics/illustrations and is intended mostly to be kept as reference, provide PDF as an option alongside your HTML version. If it's must-have information, then sure, go ahead and dictate whatever you feel like, be it PDF, MS Word .doc, .ppt, Flash, Real, Windows Media, and your users will adapt or suffer the consequences. (Not the practice I recommend, but it illustrates a point: If you're the only choice for indispensible information, you get to dictate how your users will access it. For the rest of us, we provide what's desired.) If, on the other hand, you want an audience to come to you, you should make your information available in as flexible a format as possible within the set of formats preferred by your intended audience. I guess what I'm trying to say is that HTML is the lingua franca of web formats. You shouldn't use other formats, like PDF, unless there is a very good and compelling reason to do so (and no, "My HTML file looks different in browser Foo" is not a good reason the vast majority of the time). If you can't dictate terms to people who want to hear what you have to say, you should provide what they want if you desire a large(r) audience. -- Bill Jonas * bill@billjonas.com * http://www.billjonas.com/ "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin Attachment:
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