"Why Browsers Should Be Able to Display OpenDocument"

[Dan Carlson]

The ability to display OpenDocument files is something that would be  
implemented in WebKit (the rendering engine), not in the browser  
application itself.  Therefore, this is something that should be  
discussed at Apple's official WebKit community site, <http:// 
webkit.opendarwin.org/> and not on this list.

However, the issue of whether or not to implement ODF in a web  
browser is a philosophical issue, and definitely worthwhile.  I think  
that, assuming it's treated properly and consistently across various  
browsers, I think that the reasons one would argue for implementing  
ODF would be exactly the same as reasons for using PDF plug-ins in  
web browsers.  It's a quick and convenient way to view more complex  
documents for references purposes.  And a browser is by its nature a  
passive, viewing device.  The idea of allowing editing of ODF files  
is not a good one, though.

The only problem is whether it's reasonably possible for reliable and  
consistent display between the various browsers.  However, I think  
that it could be reasonably workable, because the big problem with  
the HTML inconsistencies was because of the corporate conflicts  
between Netscape and Microsoft.  These days, the majority of web page  
rendering is driven by Firefox/Gecko, Apple/WebKit/KHTML, and Opera  
-- MSIE is just following in everyone else's footsteps.  Therefore,  
it's more likely that, with ODF being a well-established standard  
already, a consistent implementation would be developed.

Ultimately, I'm not sure whether ODF offers greater display  
functionality than PDF... although obviously the accessibility issues  
would be more helpful.  From a designer/webmaster and accessibility  
perspective, everything I've learned says that it's best to NEVER use  
PDF except for documents that are specifically and only designed to  
be in extremely restricted presentational formats -- like printed  
documents.

Dan Carlson
(Paying for his browser since 2002!)

On Nov 17, 2005, at 2:19 PM, Trevor Harmon wrote:

> On Nov 17, 2005, at 8:42 AM, Jonathan Tyzack wrote:
>
>> Thoughts? Sounds like a potentially good idea to me.
>>
>> http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=12685
>
> I don't know why the author thinks formatting OpenDocument across  
> browsers will be consistent. Browsers don't even display HTML  
> consistently. The best solution is PDF. It solves the consistency  
> problem, it's very mature, and it already has massive support from  
> the industry, perhaps more than OpenDocument will ever have. And  
> yet the author says PDF is inadequate because it requires a plugin;  
> how can he expect OpenDocument to be supported? Let's get native  
> support for PDF into our browsers before we worry about OpenDocument.
>
> Trevor
>
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