On Monday 29 March 2004 21:41, Bill Jonas wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I'd like opinions about which format would be most advantageous for
> keeping a document with multiple intended output formats -- specifically
> a resume.  At a minimum, I'd like the ability to output in HTML, text,
> and PDF.

     I'm not sure there's a "good" answer. My bottom-line is to maintain it in 
whatever format can be used to create the desired outputs, and to also keep a 
hardcopy in a paper file. At the moment, the "master" copy is in OpenOffice 
and from that I can generate electronic *.doc (Microsoft Word), *.ps 
(PostScript), *.pdf (PDF, via the ps2pdf program) and, of course, hardcopy.
     I've used the above approach (hardcopy + some "current" tool) for several 
decades and, as I've moved from architecture to architecture, I've always 
been able to draft and re-draft my resume within a reasonable amount of time. 
Although Linux is currently my "home" system, I've learned that, in time, 
that might change, and certainly Linux itself will change. I don't use HTML 
as an output format at the present time. I suppose if I wanted to make my 
resume available on a web page, the PDF format would be an easy choice, 
albeit not "readable" without an extra button click (to download and then 
launch some reader program).
     I use DocBook quite a lot for work and it holds the promise of "tomorrow" 
for many things. Current abilities, however, are somewhat austere and to gain 
complete control of what the output looks like, you either need to become an 
expert in whichever tool chain you decide to use, or pay for a commercial 
license (and then fight them to give you what you want). Additionally, 
upgrading or moving to a different host means, especially if you've 
customized the output, you may be facing a fair bit of work to get the 
complete (new) toolchain working and generating your desired output format 
again. Ultimately, XML, DocBook and so forth are intended to resolve all 
these same issues but, all in all, I'd have to say that, for the general 
user, XML/DocBook et all aren't there yet.

-- 
Ed Skinner, ed@flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/

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