Re: FN-FORUM: A better word processor?

date posted 1st April 2007 12:56


On 31 Mar 2007, at 23:08, Ian Piper wrote:

> 1. It doesn't use html as its default format (you have to export)
> 2. It doesn't have external style sheets.
>
> The key question here is about whether html and css have matured
> enough to be used as general document creation formats, and if so
> whether there were yet any desktop word processor applications that
> use them. It seems like a logical next step (especially with the
> blurring of html/css/javascript and desktop tools in things like
> Apple and Yahoo widgets and the forthcoming Adobe Apollo services).


I understand where you are coming from however I think that the real
key is the ability to repurpose content for multi-channel delivery.
Print is best handled by PDF (or similar), HTML is designed for
browsers and of course there are other methods of content delivery
such as RSS, WML, Flash etc.

The other comments on HTML/CSS v PDF for print are spot on and I know
from my own experience that tools such as Open Office are great at
giving end users a familiar interface by which content can be
captured and then repurposed. For example, I have used it for
generating e-learning content that can be delivered via PDF, HTML,
WML and XML into Flash - just by processing the XML that OO produces.

Interesting thoughts however - could HTML with CSS ever become
something that could be properly used in any delivery scenario? My
HO.... maybe but I think there is a danger of trying to make one
thing do everything and thereby making it unwieldy and ultimately
useless.

jez