pdf vs txt or html

Martin Ryder (mryder who-is-at carbon.cudenver.edu)
Mon, 12 Jul 1999 14:59:09 -0600 (MDT)

The last thing I want to do is engage in a tussle about text
formatting preferences, but...

- PDF files do not open their contents to web search engines.
- PDF files do not provide internal anchors for external hyperlinks.
- PDF files are huge and slow to download.
- PDF readers impose system requirements that effectively exclude
users with older and smaller systems.

- Regarding authenticity, it is unclear how a simple text file
can be un-authentic.
- Regarding the likelyhood of editing the original, isn't that a
function of server security?

My 2c
Martin R.

Nate writes:

> Personally, I have been using pdf more and more to get copies of
> chapters, articles etc into digital format. I think it is less time
> consuming than converting to html and offers a degree of autheticity
> that html can't. In contrast to photocopying one only has to copy the
> document once although it may take a little longer.

David writes:

> I've done both and agree with Nate that pdf is closer to the original -
> less likely to be edited.