Re: Docs on the Web

[Peter Collins <peter -dot- collins -at- BIGFOOT -dot- COM>]

Personal observation only.

As a user, I don't like PDF.

1. It forces me the reader to conform to the publisher's idea of what makes
for a good readability. In contrast, I like HTML because unlike PDF it
gives me some freedom to reformat some of the almost unreadable layouts
that hit my screen. With HTML I can purge out coloured backgrounds, change
to a readable font (auch as Times) in black type on white background, set
the font size to one that is readable on my monitor, at its resolution and
at the distance from my eyes that my workstation layout dictates, and then
have word wrap within the margins of the window size that I choose, so that
I don't have to use horizonal scroll on each and every line. PDF,
unfortunately, leaves me stuck with what the page designer (in some cases
very mistakenly) decided was best. In PDF I cannot cancel the background, I
cannot change the fonts, I cannot alter the wrap margins. All I can do is
alter the magnification, and generally that means I have to cope with
horizontal scroll or have the font size too small for comfortable viewing.

2. Though PDF is supposed to be much better for user-controlled, direct
printing, my experience and that of my contacts here, is that printing from
PDF files is not trouble-free and can so hand Win95 that you have to power
down to release a computer that has hung while attempting a PDF print job.
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Peter Collins, VIVID Management Pty Ltd,
26 Bradleys Head Road, MOSMAN 2088, Australia
+61 2 9968 3308, fax +61 2 9968 3026, mobile +61 (0)18 419 571
Management Consultants and Technical Writers
email: peter -dot- collins -at- bigfoot -dot- com                ICQ#: 10981283
web pages: http://www.angelfire.com/pe/pcollins/
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