Question:
for some future and current works i want to provide my writings
additionally in other formats than xhtml. Has anyone a link to a list
of free documentation formats? The problem is that i want to avoid
using formats on that evtl. patents are pending.
for example, i would like to provide my stuff using portable document
format (pdf) and postscript (ps), but i am not shure if the formats as
such are free cos adobe has a trademark on them.
any hints?
Answer:
There are authoring formats and display formats.
For authoring, I'd strongly recommend either LaTeX or DocBook, not
necessarially in that order.
Both allow you to output content in multiple formats, including PS, PDF,
HTML, and XHTML directly, and text (usually dumped from HTML)
indirectly. I use a similar trick to produce my resume in HTML format
("native") then convert it to PS, PDF, and txt (see the URL below and do
the math
For console, more, less, and most do pretty well.
There are console viewers which will allow viewing of graphical formats
(e.g.: PS, PDF), usually through the framebuffer device. I haven't
used these, and don't generally find the concept paletable.
There are a number of high-quality text-based HTML viewers, including
w3m, lynx, and links.
For X viewers, gv will handle both PS and PDF formats. xpdf does PDF
formats, including handling some advanced features such as links. There
are numerous graphical HTML browsers.
