Re: Re[2]: Should we skip HTML?

[Scott Gray <scotty -at- CM -dot- MATH -dot- UIUC -dot- EDU>]

Gotta disagree...With JavaScript and Java one has many many more options
for programming.  PDF does not.


Scott Mills Gray
scotty -at- cm -dot- math -dot- uiuc -dot- edu
http://www.useractive.com

"I hear and I forget, I see and I forget, I do and I forget" -- confused.


On Tue, 10 Mar 1998, Walker, Arlen P wrote:

>
>
>       If you imagine that your product will be used by a wide range of
>       people then PDF is certainly not the way to go.  The days of PDF have
>       come and quickly gone.  I don't know anyone who has acrobat on their
>       machines anymore,
>
> I know hundreds. So what's your point? That *you* don't use Acrobat so no
> one does?
>
>       If you want to make is as difficult as possible for your users to
>       get help...then by all means go with PDF.
>
> I find Acrobat to be faster and easier than a web browser for local file
> access. It also consumes far less memory than the browsers I keep around.
> In addition, it's far more stable. Give me a choice for viewing a local doc
> and I'll take PDF every time.
>
> The only time I miss the control a browser gives me over the page is when I
> encounter a bad design. And I encounter bad design far more often in HTML
> than in PDF. I don't want to spend my time tweaking your design to make it
> usable. I want to read it and be done with it.
>
> PDF excels at keeping things simple, at presenting the information cleanly
> and clearly. HTML, using any realistic number of illustrations, will result
> in many small files, which given the cluster sizes on most people's hard
> drives today, will waste a ton of disc space. (Not to mention that a user
> seems far more likely, in my experience, to blow away or otherwise mangle
> one or more small files than a single big one.)
>
> To my mind, HTML over the net is useful; local HTML files mean a lazy
> designer.
>
>
> Have fun,
> Arlen
> Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
> DNRC 224
>
> Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
> ----------------------------------------------
> In God we trust; all others must provide data.
> ----------------------------------------------
> Opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.
> If JCI had an opinion on this, they'd hire someone else to deliver it.
>
>