Note: This column represents the opinions
of the writer and as such, is not purported as fact
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Over at the IDG website, Paul Brislen is having
a bit of a gripe
about the proliferation of PDF documents on the web.
Well I have to agree with him somewhat but I think he's chosen the wrong
target to focus on.
One thing I hate more than PDF files on the web or in my email is MS Word,
Power Point and/or Excel files being offered-up in those situations.
Adobe's Acrobat (PDF) format has some very real advantages in some situations...
It provides very consistent display and printing across a wide range of platforms
and a free reader is available for quite a few platforms.
What's more, although it has thrown up a few security vulnerabilities on occasion,
the number of these flaws is more than an order of magnitude less than those
which have or do exist in the MS Office products (witness the latest exploit
documented in today's headlines).
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But Paul is quite right when he suggests that 99% of the time, the contents
of a PDF (or other proprietary format) file is nothing that can't be done just
as well using HTML or (gasp!) even good old ASCII text.
If I get sent a press release or some other bit of information in MS Word
format, it goes straight in the bit-bin, never getting a chance to appear on
my screen or printer. Life's too short to run the risk that it contains
an unnoticed worm or virus and my tired old PC is already groaning under the
load of all these processes without firing up another heavy-weight, resource-intensive
bit of Microsoft code.
Smart people either send me their communications in plain text or they simply
provide a URL so I can visit a webpage containing the necessary information.
Of course if that webpage contains links to .DOC files or tries to show me
embedded .WMF files then it is also ignored.
Yes, although I have nothing too much against .WMF files on the Net (although
I'd rather see something less proprietary being used where practical), I just
*hate* embedded video streams! These are the height of rudeness and stupidity
on the part of webpage designers.
Why not just spawn the video in a copy of Media Player so that *I* can set
the size, contrast, audio equalization and other parameters that are stomped
on when the player is embedded?
Of course it all boils down to "standards", something that far too many
web designers just don't really get.
Defacto standards based on proprietary file formats are bad. This includes
PDF, DOC, XLS, PPT, WMF and a raft of other options.
Sure, it may take a little more work and thought to present the same information
in ASCII, HTML, XML, OGG or other open standards, but good designers place
more emphasis on doing the job right rather than doing it quickly.
While on this topic I have to give Opera a big thumbs-up for deciding to offer
its standards-compliant browser for free. Hopefully this will be another nail
in the coffin of Internet Explorer -- another crutch for lame and lazy
web designers who find it easier to do things Microsoft's way rather than
the right way.
What do you think?
Should designers pay more attention to avoiding proprietary formats and forcing
visitors to jump through hoops just to view content that could otherwise
be presented far more reliably through the use of open standards?
What's your biggest peeve when it comes to the use of non-open standards
on the web?
Go have your say in The Aardvark Forums
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