HTML Programming vs. PDF

[Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET>]

>
>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 see that as a drawback, actually. Explorer doesn't read JavaScript, but
JScript. But Netscape doesn't honor JScript...Java applets require
download...too many options, too many opportunities for the unknown to
intrude. It's fine if it's a website that you're experimenting with, but
users on real systems have jobs to do and don't appreciate having files
that don't read or perform properly. At least PDF is fairly bullet-proof,
and WinHelp is just about invulnerable. Flexibility often brings risk with
it. I'm never comfortable with risk when I deliver something for the
client's customer base, something that can reflect well or badly on my
client.

Further, creating system support HTML with lots of scripts and applets
isn't my idea of efficient production, especially if you're creating both
print and online. Too much skill needed and too much testing required to
get it all right. It takes time, and most clients aren't in the mood to
write bigger checks at the back end of big, expensive projects.




Tim Altom
Vice President, Simply Written, Inc.
317.899.5882 (voice) 317.899.5987 (fax)
www.simplywritten.com
Creators of the Clustar Method (TM)
An out-of-the-box methodology for fast task-based documentation
that's easy to port to paper, WinHelp, Acrobat, SGML, and other media.