Document Formats

Major Document Formats

	Plain Text	XHTML	DocBook	OpenDocument Text	Word	PDF
Extension	txt	html / htm	xml	odt	doc	pdf
Text or binary	text	text (based on XML)	text (based on XML)	text (based on XML)	binary	binary
Open or proprietary	open	open	open	open	proprietary	open
Data on document structure	-	+	+ (with styles)	+	+ (with styles)	-
Data on document layout	-	Transitional: +	- (assumed by XSL-FO)	+	+	+
Data on document layout	-	Strict: - (assumed by CSS)	- (assumed by XSL-FO)	+	+	+
Metadata	-	+	+	+	+	+
Main usage	when there is no need for layout	online publishing	print publishing	print publishing	print publishing	print publishing
Open software for authoring	text editors	text editors / HTML editors	text editors / XML editors	OpenOffice.org Writer	OpenOffice.org Writer	OpenOffice.org Writer / PDF converters
Proprietary software for authoring	text editors	text editors / HTML editors	text editors / XML editors	StarOffice Writer	Word	Acrobat / PDF converters
Backward and future compatibility	very high	high	rather high	rather high	dubious	rather high
Compatibility between differenct environments	absolute	full	full	full	problematic	full
Degree of layout preservation	(no layout)	flexible depending on the environment	reasonable	reasonable	reasonable	complete
Distribution	wide, esp. among computer geeks	wide	popular for technical documentation among computer geeks	still limited but widening	still very wide, esp. among naive Windows users	relatively wide

General criteria
- Text format > binary format
- Open format > proprietary format
Algorithm
- Is layout important?
  - No --> plain text (preferably in UTF-8 without BOM): priority level 1 (Geeks prefer plain text)
  - Yes -->
    - How is it necessary to publish?
      - Online -->
        
        XHTML Strict (with CSS): priority level 2
        
        XHTML Transitional (without CSS): priority level 3
      - Print -->
        
        As a pivot -->
        
        Non-WYSIWYG authoring environment --> DocBook: priority level 2
        
        WYSIWYG authoring environment --> OpenDocument Text: priority level 2
        
        For complete layout preservation --> PDF: priority level 3
        
        For the comsumption of those who are still stuck in software called Word --> Word: priority level 10 (Word is not a document exchange format; We can put an end to Word attachments)
        
        For those who want to make sure that their documents will be illegible in the future --> Word: priority level 1 ;-)

DocBook
- Elements firstname and surname should be renamed as givenname and familyname for linguistic and cultral neutrality.
OpenDocument Text
- The first character of each word comprising a style name is generally capitalized (e.g., Bibliography Heading, but in the following style names only the first character of the first word is capitalized (e.g., Complementary close, which should be Complementary Close. It is a shame that the format has become an ISO standard with such an inconsistent naming convention.
  - Paragraph styles: Complementary close, First line indent, Footer left, Footer right, Frame contents, Hanging indent, Header left, Header right, Object index 1, Object index heading, Table index 1, Table index heading, Text body, Text body indent
  - Character styles: Endnote anchor, Line numbering, Main index entry