"Why Browsers Should Be Able to Display OpenDocument"

[Derek Currie]

On Friday, November 18, 2005, at 03:00  PM, 
omniweb-l-request at omnigroup.com wrote:

>> On Nov 17, 2005, at 7:38 PM, Dan Carlson wrote:
>>
>>> Ultimately, I'm not sure whether ODF offers greater display 
>>> functionality than PDF... although obviously the accessibility 
>>> issues would be more helpful.
>>
> On Nov 17, 2005, at 11:52 PM, Trevor Harmon wrote:
>
>> In what way is ODF better than PDF with regard to accessibility?
>>
>> On Nov 17, 2005, at 11:56:39  PM, Dan Carlson replied:
>>
> Because it's easier for people to get access to ODF files, since you 
> don't have to buy Acrobat for $300 to open or create such documents...

Hold your horses there partner. What are you talking about? Here are 
the facts:

1) Anyone with Mac OS X can create a PDF whenever they like using the 
Print dialog box in any application that allows printing. Many 
applications themselves will create PDFs as well, such as OW! PC users 
have lots of options now for creating PDFs at no cost as well, such as 
using OpenOffice, where you can install a free plug-in to create and 
even somewhat edit PDFs.
2) Anyone with Mac OS X can open a PDF whenever they like using the 
Apple provided application Preview. And if folks are into masochism 
they can go through the nightmarish ritual of downloading and 
installing Adobe Reader 7. PC users and even PDA users can use Adobe 
Reader for free as well.
3) Where one would need Acrobat would be when it is necessary to EDIT a 
PDF while keeping it in native PDF format, or mark it up for editing 
through group conference, or add the bells and whistles (links, 
bookmarks, thumbnails, embedded audio and video, pre-flighting, color 
management...) that you won't get from the basic PDF creation ability 
of Mac OS X and may not get with applications that will themselves 
render direct to PDF. Most people don't need this stuff.

As far as I am concerned, PDF is THE cross platform document format 
right now, which I use all day every day and send to folks all over the 
net. I now resent folks who send me .doc files. They are cave men IYAM. 
I also like not bothering with complications when I don't need them, so 
I write a lot of documents in plain text, typically with the great 
little shareware app Tex-Edit. It knows how to set the line breaks for 
every computer platform with simple commands. I rarely use RTF, but 
know it is there if I want to text collaborate with a generic PC user.

OK, back to the subject: I foresee the display of OpenDocument files in 
web browsers as absolutely standard within three years. It is still a 
format making baby steps, a format at least 95% of computer users  have 
never heard of. For now it will not get much attention. But as 
OpenOffice and its spawn become stronger and more popular it will get 
more attention and people will want others to be able to read them in 
any old place, and that means in a web browser, just like we can read 
plain text docs in browsers now. And you know Microsoft are going to, 
however slowly, make it a native import and export option in Word. Next 
year it will be an available plug-in. I expect the year or so after 
that it will be built in. The most cutting edge web browser developers 
will most likely be early adopters of ODF rendering. I hope that means 
OmniGroup. But I also don't expect any moves in that direction until 
more that a tiny group of computer users know of and create 
OpenDocument files.

:-D

==============
:-Derek Currie
derekcurrie at mac.com
<http://www.insanely-great.com/>
ICQ # 69626815