From koffice Fri Nov 26 09:15:09 1999 From: David Faure Date: Fri, 26 Nov 1999 09:15:09 +0000 To: koffice Subject: RE: M$ Word filter? And more standard formats X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=koffice&m=94360784522035 > So why not take XML into account ? > In my opinion Microsoft is slowly moving toward this format > to store data. The last version of their PowerPoint converts > presentations automatically into html-files and gifs. Next > step would be to have -sort of- XML, see Office2000. > > So what about the following: > Choose XML. > Letīs handle text and graphics separately. Means that text has links to graphics and so on. > At save time grab all the files of the document and sent them > through the tar/gz or bz2 algorithm to store all data into one file. > At load time process vice versa. > For the user it will be easy to handle the document: Itīs size is small, so he can sent it via mail. > One can untar the doc-file and use the files separetly. The docs can easily put to the web > Data can be processed with other programs, too. Choose XML because it will be a standard to the industry in > less than 3 ys. Do you have the slightest hint about KOffice ? Before throwing ideas around, why not first have a look at what you're talking about ? KOffice has been using XML since the beginning ! And yes, at saving time a tar.gz file is created with the graphics added into it. Create a word document, save it (.kwd), run "tar xvzf" on the .kwd file, and behold : one XML file per part (including the main doc, of course), and pictures and the rest saved natively. This being said, XML is only a meta-language. If two office suites use XML, it doesn't mean they can natively read each others' files. You still needs filters. The good thing about XML is that : you can extend the format without breaking the reading and saving of the previous versions (unlike M$Word which needs filters between its own versions !), and also that writing filters is (should be) fairly easy. But the basic problem remains : yes, each app has to have its own format. Because the file format is strongly coupled to the features of the app and to the way the app models the data. -- David Faure faure@kde.org - KDE developer david@mandrakesoft.com - Mandrake david.faure@cramersystems.com - Cramer Systems