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Re: What I would like to see
by trynis on Friday 20/Jun/2003, @04:14
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Yes, you are right. I've been doing my share of import filters to realise that it is more or less impossible to find a common file format. In order to to that, every program would have to match feature by feature, and those features would have to be implemented in pretty much the same way. An example: What is just a visual line in one application may have a semantical meaning in another, while still denoting the same thing. Good luck finding a good way of importing from the first program into the second.
The important thing is not what file format your word processor is using, but what format you distribute your final document in. The word processor's own file format should only be used when writing your document, not when distributing it.
The default file format for an application should IMHO reflect the internal data representation of that program. Otherwise there will be a lot of programming kludges. There will be problems moving documents between versions of that program, but that can easily be solved by either sticking to the same version when writing a document, or by using some upgrade tool (which is much easier to develop than import filters between different applications). If it was possible to have one common file format for all word processors, we might as well only have one word processor.
Use one format when writing your document, and then another (e.g. pdf) when you're finished and want to distribute it. |
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