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Date: Tue, 23 Jul 1996 18:51:48 -0500 (CDT) From: Grant White <ulgw@dewey.newcastle.edu.au> To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU> Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.UH.EDU> ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- At 06:43 PM 7/22/96 -0500, Peter Graham, RUL wrote: >----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > >On the net, we need textual tools for searching, for publishing, for >reading in attractive form, for authenticating content, for archiving >and for analysis. Ascii is the least useful of tools for any of >these, and .pdf is one (less than perfect) tool in a battery of >developing tools for making electronic use of text possible and fruitful. > I have to bite. The net trainers and www authors at Uni of Newcastle have been tossing this point around for a coupla weeks now and I must confess to subscribing to the anti-pdf side of the argunment. I argue that the key to the effective dissemination and use of information is ease of access. Placing another, usually obstructive, mechanism in the path between information and information needer will eventually lead to a cacophanous din of quasi standards and protocols as every other software company attempts to cash in and prevent its brand of WP being dumped in favour of a net friendly one. A quick visit to netscape's plug in page reveals a worrying trend towards plugins of this nature, Word six and powerpoint viewers spring to mind. And I'm sure there will be more. IMHO the best thing to do, is to stick with the most accessible, system compatible, and simple system, ie HTML. Cheers, GW > Grant White University of Newcastle Central Coast Campus Information Resource Centre ulgw@dewey.newcastle.edu.au Ph: 043-484022 Fax: 043-484215 "......and the man climbed back Out of the marvellous as he had known it." Lightenings VIII Seamus Heaney
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