Re: [OSS] Re: a small thing that we can do

Hi Stefan,

> >As suggested by Joakim Lofkvist, I changed the download icons on our websites
> >from Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint and Excel) to their Open Office
> >equivalents. The PDF icon is now also generic.
> >I intend progressively to change file names and alt descriptions to suit.
>
> The most important thing would probably be, to change file in .doc format
> to .rtf ... and never to require any submission to be in .doc format.

It is also important to try to find a format that is a little bit
permanent - this will usually (not always) be one endorsed by some
standards body. I find some difficulty now reading any stuff that is more
than about 8 years old. So the lifetime of the material we write is very
limited these days. I'd recommend using a markup language, such as SGML,
or its subset, HTML. Standards are widely known, and we can always write
new software to untangle it if necessary - this is not possible with
secret formats, such as used by M$. Tex is another possibility, as it is
also a well-defined markup language, with specifications freely and
publicly available.

(My 172 VND worth)

Cheers,

Rob
-----------------------------------------------------
Rob Hurle Tel: +61 2 6247 2397
PO Box 13 Fax: +61 2 6247 2397
Ainslie Cell phone: 0417 293 603
Australia e-mail: rob@coombs.anu.edu.au
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