joey <joey@joeysmith.com> writes:
So, before I get *too* far down this path, here's what I've come up with so far. Is this usable to you?
I think it's a pretty good start. May i suggest you to have a look at this: http://www.openformats.org/ Maybe it's often too didactic/normative for PG's purpose, but i think you can grab some useful content. Some excerpts: * Plain text: http://www.openformats.org/en60 Plain text (ASCII) Whenever possible, just avoid using formatted text: using plain text (either ascii or .txt format) guarantees complete access for everyone, regardless of their software, their operating system or the computer they are using. In your emails, if what is important to you is the content and not the formatting, send the text directly in the body of your message instead of sending it as an attachment. Plain text can carry no virus, it is extremely light and can be easily used to create tables (with tabs or commas) which any software is able to read. * HTML: http://www.openformats.org/en61 Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) HTML format is the standard language for the web, and it was defined by an standardizing international organization (the W3_Consortium). HTML is a flexible universal format, rich and compact. Native HTML (with no javascript) can carry no virus and can be read on any platform. Note: The HTML code produced by Word is semi-proprietary, and it is prone to include information which cannot be displayed on all platforms. * TeX, LaTeX, DVI: http://www.openformats.org/en62 TeX, LaTeX and Device Independent Format (DVI) TeX is both a language to typeset documents and a programming language. Originally written to typeset mathematical documents in a professional manner, it is now used in many other areas. LaTeX is also a typsetting and programming language. It's actually a simplified version of TeX which enables top level instruction manipulation, just as HTML is a simplified version of SGML. DVI. A TeX or LaTeX source file must be compiled. The result of this compilation is in DVI format, readable on any platform. Most of the time, the result of the compilation will, in turn, be converted to PDF or PS. * OpenDocument: http://www.openformats.org/en62x1 OpenDocument is: a. An open, XML-based file format. b. An open standard, supported by the OASIS and ISO standards groups. c. The default file format for OpenOffice.org 2.0 and KOffice 1.4. d. A top prospect for an official format for the European Commission. e. Our best chance to fight vendor lock-in associated with proprietary formats. * RTF: http://www.openformats.org/en63 Rich Text Format (RTF) RTF format was introduced by Microsoft to create a standard format for text formatting. It offers the same format variety than DOC, all the while being (at least in its native version) a format with public specifications. Most word-processing programs are capable or reading and writing this format, but because certain programs tend to use proprietary extensions of this format, its compatibility remains uncertain. * PS: http://www.openformats.org/en64 PostScript (PS) The PostScript format is a language describing a page, developped by Adobe in 1985, created for printing and widely used in typography. One of its advantages is that it is universal (it is independent from the format of the original file) and it cannot carry viruses. Contrary to PDF format, PostScript does not allow to copy text viewed on a screen to paste it in another application. It can be generated with compatible printers (option: 'print in file') and with the GhostScript program. * PDF: http://www.openformats.org/en65 Portable Document Format (PDF) PDF format (Portable Document Format), developed by Adobe, is a document presentation format, the specifications for PDF are available on the web. It is a universal format (regardless of which platform and software are used to generate it), compatible with any printer, flexible (you can substitute fonts, add links, bookmarks, notes) and legible onscreen with the appropriate plugins. It can be generated with Adobe Acrobat, with the open source software GhostScript or created on the fly in a Unix environment. * JPEG: http://www.openformats.org/en66 Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) JPEG is one of the most efficient picture compression formats currently available. This open format is very light and allows you to determine the rate of data compression, knowing that the higher the compression rate, the lower the quality of the picture. JPEG follows a process of cumulative compression: the image is clearly affected if you open it and save it with a new compression rate. A variant of this format, progressive JPEG, allows you to optimise the time it takes to display the picture on internet. The new JPEG_2000 standard, currently being defined, will allow for a better quality/compression ratio as well as the indexing of pictures with keywords. * PNG: http://www.openformats.org/en67 Portable Network Graphics (PNG) PNG-8 and PNG-24 are two open formats which are also license-free. They represent the principal alternative to the GIF format, specially created to optimise the display of images on internet. They allow data compression without loss of information and are supported by most browsers. The size of a PNG file remains significantly higher than its JPEG equivalent. However, PNG will advantageously replace GIF for images which are 8-bit or less. * ... -- Bastien