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diff --git a/drafts/html-for-docs-2020.html b/drafts/html-for-docs-2020.html deleted file mode 100644 index 8b5462e..0000000 --- a/drafts/html-for-docs-2020.html +++ /dev/null @@ -1,72 +0,0 @@ -<h1>Writing Documents: Markdown? LaTeX? WINWORD.EXE? Nope, just HTML</h1> - -<p> - <img src="https://nextcloud.53hor.net/index.php/s/XaZRfgK3G7ZzWbs/preview" /> -</p> - -<p class="description"> - I've been without MS Word for quite a few years since I switched away from - Windows and honestly I haven't needed it. I took notes and wrote documents in - Markdown for a while. That was alright because the syntax is easy and any text - editor can read a Markdown file. Sometimes I need shareable formatting, so - recently I started using HTML for all documents I intend to share, upload, or - print. -</p> - -<p> - The year is 2021 and I write all my formatted documents in HTML. It sounds - needless but if you think about it it makes a lot of sense. HTML after all was - designed to be the streaming document of choice when the web was introduced to - the world. So it's tailor-made for shareable, digital documents. - <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/html52/" - >Over the years the specification has gotten larger</a - >, and most of the syntax required by a typical user is present. -</p> - -<p> - But why bother? What are the "benefits"? Well, HTML is ubiquitous. And by that - I mean literally <em>everyone</em> can read an HTML document because literally - everyone has a web browser installed. Friends don't have Word? Use Google - Docs? Use Apple Pages? Forget it. I bet you all of those folks have a web - browser that was made after 1999. That means they can all read your document, - either by visiting it on your site or receiving it in an email. -</p> - -<p> - What's easier than reading HTML is writing it. Anyone with a text editor can - do it. Heck, even those folks with Word installed can save their documents as - [reasonable] HTML. And the tags aren't that hard to learn. I don't think that - Markdown is an easier syntax to learn and understand. HTML's tags are only - slightly more verbose and the structure is a pro, not a con. It's certainly - easier than writing a document in LaTeX. I would even argue in some ways it's - easier than working with a WYSIWYG editor. At least the formatting you're - looking for isn't getting shuffled from menu to sub-menu. -</p> - -<p> - Sometimes folks want a PDF instead. Okay, fine. For whatever reason PDFs are - the reigning document of the land. That doesn't mean you need Adobe Acrobat or - some custom setup involving - <code>wkhtmltopdf</code>. Or even worse, some strange LaTeX middleware via - <code>pandoc</code>. You don't need any of that! The best PDF reader in the - world, MuPDF, also comes with <code>mutool</code>. - <code>mutool convert [options] file [pages]</code> will convert a variety of - formats to or from a PDF. And the results look terrific going from an HTML to - a PDF. If you want, you can customize the results by writing CSS into - <code>@media print</code> queries. Automate the creation with a script when - you safe the underlying document. Sky's the limit! -</p> - -<p> - But what about presentations or slideshows? Surely, the "minimal" solution is - to use something like Suckless' <code>sent</code> right? Well, you can also do - slideshows in HTML! Just a little CSS and some <code>section</code> and - <code>a</code> tags and you've got a click-able, full-browser slideshow with - images, links, titles, icons, flowcharts, embedded videos, and a printable - slide deck. And the best part is that you can instantly share online by - dropping it into a public web root. You don't have to use Google Slides or - some other third-party slide creator online that none of your friends use. - Heck, Suckless <code>sent</code> is just that: yet another slideshow tool that - does one thing and nobody but you has it installed. Your HTML slides are - <em>just as plain text</em> as a <code>sent</code> deck. -</p> |