Re: document integrity via web

[Max Wyss <prodok -at- PRODOK -dot- CH>]

Drew,

The crucial criterion for document integrity is that the document must be
saved and transmitted as ONE SINGLE FILE. And, when the file might have
gotten corrupted during some transfer, it should become either unreadable,
or it should trigger some indication that it has been incidentially
altered.

This integrity requirement is not fulfilled by any but the very simplest
HTML files ... and that even only when one does give up on the appearance
integrity is not required. As soon as you have a little bit more complex
document, you would have to provide a complete zoo of additional files (the
ones which have been linked into the "main" document.

MessyWord is an option, when multi-platform means "Windows 95" and "Windows
98" ... And, as one of the most preferred actions of MessyWord is to
reformat a document when another printer driver is selected, you would have
ABSOLUTELY NO GUARANTEE for appearance integrity.

There might be some alternatives. If appearance integrity is an absolute
must, you should seriously consider bitmap formats. I am not quite sure
with the alteration detection.

Considering these points, you runs very short on options. ... and you will
end up with PDF.

Hope, this can help.

Max Wyss
PRODOK Engineering
Technical documentation and translations, Electronic Publishing
CH-8906 Bonstetten, Switzerland

Fax:  +41 1 700 20 37
e-mail:  mailto:prodok -at- prodok -dot- ch
WWW:  http://www.prodok.ch/prodok


Bridging the Knowledge Gap


______________________



>Hello, hope I'm not beating a dead horse here, but...
>
>A professional group is currently setting standards for web-based
>document dissemination, and wants to ensure:
>  *multi-platform
>  *image integrity
>for reports and forms.
>
>My take on this question is that .pdf is the ONLY format that ensures
>both, though I understand that others in this group want to support .html
>and even MSWord documents.
>
>My question is this: am I right?
>
>Assuming "yes,"
>my second question is this: what documentation is available to support my
>view?
>
>Drew Krause           Miami, FL

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