Why PDF vs .doc?

[glass]

Er, I'll add value by stating also that .DOC files are bad, because they can spread macro virii & stuff.

What's a virius?

Seriously though, bizare pluralisation aside, this is the main point. You can put .DOC up if you like, but don't expect me to open it (or anyone else with any sense).


glass.

 

[MonsterMash]

OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/) has a "save to PDF" function in its newer versions. It's a decent word processor, and the free PDF thing could help you a lot.

Cheers, -- N

Edit: D'oh! Beaten to the punch.

Er, I'll add value by stating also that .DOC files are bad, because they can spread macro virii & stuff.

Which is the reason that I tend to send people stuff I know they'll need to edit in .rtf format if it needs formatting or just plain .txt to save size if no formatting required.

 

[glass]

If you really didn't want to create a pdf, you could create an rtf. It's a bit more portable, but still not quite as universal as pdf.

Doesn't help with the virus thing. RTFs can't carry viruses, but if you have a virus infected copy of Word and you tell it to save a document as an RTF the virus will usually overirde that and save it a a .DOC but with the RTF extension. Word will still open it.


glass.

 

[WampusCat43]

Anyway... who wants to help playtest some adventures in fabulous PDF format?
Thanks for the info!
Gruns

I'm willing. My D&D group is starting back into the game next week. (Have to give the old DM - me - a little time off now and then). Send some details to khays3 at hotmail and I'll see what we can do.

Thanks,

Keith

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

However, i don't believe that this viewer is truly cross-platform.

Thena gain, Adobe doesn't support Linux anymore either...

There's a version of Reader 7 for Linux. Adobe took enough crap with 6 (not just the lack of Linux support, too).

 

[Henry]

Doesn't anyone ever disable macros anymore?

I do agree that for most purposes, I'd rather have PDF because of the presentation quality. I still use Microsoft at work because it's such a standard in the business world, but for my manuals and electronic game books, PDF is still preferable.

 

[Staffan]

A format with physical layout like PDF certainly has its place in web distibution -- it's easy for publishers to crank out, and lots of customers just print anyway. A logical formal like HTML would be useful too, if anyone offered it. In an ideal world, publishers would supply both in one zip file. A pretty PDF to print, and an RTF/HTML file with minimum fuss that goes straight into the GM's wordprocessor/editor.

I think some of the early Malhavoc Press books came in both PDF and text format.

 

[Rasyr]

A little late to the conversation, but here is another free alternative for creating PDFs.

http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/

 

[Arnix]

PDF gives a "universal" viewing format. What I write is what you see. There are caveats where some viewers, free and old, don't display documents correctly. The PDF also, in theory, removes the worry of viruses spreading. You can download PDF fearlessly.

For linux PDF viewing there is XPDF.

Free pdfing can be done with pdf995 which install as a printer IIRC so that even word can print to PDF.

I have little experience with *TeX and what I do have was a little confusing. Maybe I looked at it too long ago.

Virii and Viri are both technically "incorrect" since Latin had no plural of the word virus. Even if it did, the -i ending is used for masculine nouns not neuter ones. English has a plural form "viruses". Internet (leet) uses two plural forums, "viri" and the more common "virii". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plural_of_virus for more info.