PDF versus HTML

[Mary Anthony <mary -at- PERSISTENCE -dot- COM>]

Hello,

Our company is going to move our reference documentation online.  The
current debate is whether to use PDF or HTML as a document format.  The
authoring tool will be Frame. The distribution method will be CD-ROM and
WWW.  As I've successfully used this list in the past to generate pros/cons
for documentation issues.  I thought I might leverage the list again to get
some more POVs. If it has already been discussed, just let me know.

I've attached a list of the pros and cons our internal debate has raised.  I
would like to know if anyone out there has some experiences to share on this
issue.  Also, if anyone can think of some additional pros/cons that would
also be helpful.

TIA,

Mary
mary -at- persistence -dot- com

--------List Follows------

PDF Pros:
=========================
- Very good display quality.
- Author can choose authoring tool.
- Acrobat reader is free.
- Acrobat provides annotation feature.
- Less formatting layout information lost in conversion.
- Acrobat is structured for finding data on a CD-ROM.


PDF Cons
==============================
-  User's have to download Acrobat rather than use their original browser.
-  PDF files are read-only.
-  To change content you need to go to source, edit, and convert to PDF.
-  You have to add links and keywords after conversion -- cannot exist in
source.
-  You must build a searchable index with Adobe Catalog.
-  Adobe continues to publish on Mac first then Windows (support issues).

HTML Pros
==============
-  There is an HTML standards body.
-  There are  lots of tools coming on the market such as search engines.
-  HTML is ubiquitous and is hence becoming a de facto standard.
-  User's can modify the source easily (add their own links).
-  With tools like Webworks, links are preserved at conversion time.

HTML Cons
================
-  HTML does not support underlining and strike through.
-  HTML does not preserve indentation, font sizes during conversion
-  Viewing quality is not "as good as" PDF