Pondering

[plonq]

My online story archive (cleverly hidden at http://www.plonq.com) is currently populated with ascii/text based versions of my stories. In many cases those have been skimmed directly from the Usernet groups where I originally posted them.

I am thinking of updating them - in some cases fixing spelling and grammar mistakes that have bugged me for years. I am also thinking of changing the actual file format to something other than plain text, and I figured I'd pick your brains here.

What format would folks here recommend? Some of the ones that I am considering are:

DOC (probably Word 6 - there are endless free utilities out there that will let people read files in this format)

RTF (not too many people out there who can't read this format)

PDF (this one is my current front-runner)

HTML (this one would be the most painful)

OTHER (this is where you folks come in =)

Note that this is just for my web page. Anything I post to LJ or Usenet will still be in plain text.

Suggestions/ideas/fish area all welcome.

Comments

[fuzzytoedcollie.livejournal.com]

PDF

[leopanthera.livejournal.com]

I would prefer HTML - it is the only format you have listed that can be nicely displayed on portable devices with small screens. PDF doesn't allow re-flowing (unpleasant even when you do have lots of screen space), and RTF and DOC aren't well supported on PDAs.

Plus HTML files would be the smallest.

[caveman-joe.livejournal.com]

I vote for HTML, too. Anyone can see them. :)
PDF files, although nice (especially for printing), have their problems - most notably that you need an external player to view them, which takes up more system resources in every release. Can't run it on my laptop, and sure as hell can't read it on my mobile.
But, (and seeing as you know your stuff when it comes to computers, this might well be quite redundant,) don't create your HTML files by making your changes in Word and then using Save As Web Page. That road nearly always ends in madness.

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

Well, I could say to translate into the text into Greek.

That way when someone writes to say they can't read it, you can truthfully say, "Well, it's Greek to me."

But I won't. :=3

[orleans.livejournal.com]

PDF is the way to go. I don't have MS Word, so I can't read things in that format too easily.

:p

[unciaa.livejournal.com]

LaTeX!

Re: :p

[furahi.livejournal.com]

And from there to doc, html, pdf.. all painless ^^

Nah, really, I'd vote PDF or HTML

[vichan.livejournal.com]

I recommend HTML, although it depends on how elaborate you want to get. There's a REAL handy command that I used to use a lot - < pre >. It makes all formatting show up as is - it's the easiest to use if you've already got all of your files in TXT format. The only drawback is that you've got to make sure all the spacing is PERFECT in your text file. Here's a real old fanfic of mine that is formatted using the < pre > command.

Or... if you'd like, I could code them into HTML for you. I do it a LOT for all of my fan fiction, and all of the fan fiction archive that I'm on tech with.

[vichan.livejournal.com]

Oh, and PDFs are a royal bastard on my computer.

And my computer isn't THAT out of date. Just a little bit. I'm betting there's thousands and thousands of people out there that have worse systems than me. ^_^

(And yes, that DOES make me feel better.)

[funos.livejournal.com]

I'd say plain text. Unless you need fonts or typesetting, why use anything else?
Think Project Gutenberg.

[funos.livejournal.com]

Actually, how would HTML be the most painful?
Very little markup required.

(and yeah, I hadn't noticed the "for my web page" bit, so yeah, HTML might be better...)

[mwalimu.livejournal.com]

I don't like PDF either - no ability to reflow for small screens, and the most difficult to convert to other formats if necessary. Not to crazy about DOC either. HTML gets my vote. RTF is okay too, or just leave them in TXT format.

[atara.livejournal.com]

My vote is for PDF.

[dronon.livejournal.com]

HTML format, for most of the reasons stated above. I don't see why it would be difficult to convert. For example, let's say your paragraphs are separated by two line breaks. In MS Word, you can do a search for two line breaks (^p^p) and ask it to replace it with an HTML line break (<p>^p^p). Or, if you've got indented paragraphs, you can do a search for a tab (^t) - or other special characters - and replace it with non-breaking spaces (<P>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;). As long as you've done your paragraphings consistantly, it shouldn't be a problem.

[leopanthera.livejournal.com]

Converting TXT to HTML is actually pretty easy, and just to prove it, I've done two things:

1. Written this guide on how to do it.

2. Converted A Christmas Tale so you can see the results.

[kimbawlion.livejournal.com]

First choice: HTML. This will work in any browser without any helper apps, and will port nicely to anything that would read RTF or DOC anyway.

Way, way distant second choice: PDF--really designed only for paper output.

Please, please, please not DOC.

[gedrean.livejournal.com]

HTML with PDF as a distant second. Honestly though, Text should work fine.

It's a Plonqtravaganza!