A Technology Pattern from
Patterns for Personal Web Sites
Different technologies have different strengths. Consider these ways to present text, from simple to complex:
Plain text. It's readable, and will always render correctly.
HTML. Readable, with the additional benefit of hyperlinks & multimedia. However, moving to HTML introduces browser compatibility problems.
PDF. Highly formatted documents designed to print well, assuming that (a) the recipient has software to read PDF, and (b) the PDF document's version is compatible with the software. Online readability is poor.
Other proprietary or complex formats (MS Word or WordPerfect, Postscript, etc.).
Each step you take up the ladder from plain text eliminates part of your audience. Anyone can read plain text; only those who have the proper software can read PDF and other proprietary formats. The World Wide Web is about disseminating knowledge; why restrict who can see what you have to offer?
Therefore, use technology appropriate for your goal.
If your goal is to make a research paper available to the Web community for online reading, offer it in HTML. If you only want to offer a printable version (why?), then offer it in a format designed for printing (such as PDF or Postscript). If you want the paper to be read online and also to look nice when printed, offer both formats.
Simple technology, which is usually the most appropriate technology, has benefits that aren't immediately obvious:
Ease of maintenance. The simpler the technology, the easier it is to maintain. Fixing a spelling error in a plain text file is easier than fixing an error in a PDF, or an image of text.
Accessibility. A blind person can use text-to-speech software on a plain text file, or an HTML page. Does such software exist for PDF or Postscript documents?
Searchability. The simpler the format, the more easily searched. Search engines indexed HTML pages for years before they started to index PDF files.
Serendipity. There are more uses for material you make available than you can imagine. For example, the text of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick can be read by a visitor, or fed into phoneme analysis software to evaluate Nathaniel Hawthorne's influence on Melville's prose. The simpler the format, the more flexible it is; the more flexible, the greater the value.
An example of breaking this pattern is using Javascript to create a link. Hyperlinks have been part of HTML since its inception; why use Javascript to create a link when (a) there's a simpler and foolproof technology available, and (b) some visitors may be using browsers that don't render Javascript? In this case, using Javascript does not result in Graceful Failure.
Likewise, using style sheets to make links look like surrounding text is not appropriate technology. Leave them as Recognizable Links.
Last updated 17 June 2002
http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Creations/Writings/Web.patterns/appropriate.technology.html
All contents ©2002 Mark L. Irons