Discussion Forums  >  Images, Documents, File Locations

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LA
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09/21/12 02:39 PM (13 years ago)

PDF Or Word?

My first app I'm creating is information on a medical condition that people with disabilities get or informed about. Would you do the information all in pdf or word or other suggestions? One screen would be short like "symptoms" and "causes".
 
AlanMac
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09/21/12 03:17 PM (13 years ago)
As BT can display either, I'd say pick the one that makes the smallest files. If it was me, I'd probably prefer to write each page it as a custom text/ html screen.
 
GraciousWolf_PE
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09/21/12 03:56 PM (13 years ago)
Personally, I prefer PDF. Then again, my documents involved diagrams, which is where PDF is the better choice of the two in order to keep the image and the format exactly as is.
 
GoNorthWest
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09/21/12 03:59 PM (13 years ago)
I kinda agree with @AlanMac...HTML would be the best option, as it can be configured to display correctly based on different displays, and you don't need anything special to view it. In second place would be PDF. Do NOT use MS Word to convert to HTML...it does nothing but insert tons of special characters that mess things up. There are tons of other programs out there (check Google) that can do the conversion. Mark
 
LA
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09/21/12 04:04 PM (13 years ago)
If it's just words then why would you need a conversion?
 
GoNorthWest
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09/21/12 04:48 PM (13 years ago)
It wouldn't, but it's not! Word processing programs like MS Word use TONS of code to express how to display documents. Try opening up one of your .doc files in Notepad and you'll see what I mean. Mark
 
AlanMac
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09/22/12 12:13 AM (13 years ago)
My reason for gong with HTML is that your app will be shown on different devices with different size screens - e.g. iPhone, iPad, Android tablet etc and maybe portrait & landscape too. The way a doc looks right on a piece of paper may look quite wrong on a small screen. HTML documents can be more flexible and styled to look good for any screen. It might be more effort but it will give the best result.
 
Jet1199
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11/17/12 03:34 AM (13 years ago)
Isn't it so, that 'Custom HTML' is not included into the app? The content stays online and will be buffered for offline use automatically. I could clear the temps for the app on the device. Good: Tye app itself stays small Bad: I have no way to get all contents for offline use except I call every page manually. Is this so??? Or is there an option to preload all? So the Word/PDF solution results in a lager app but is fully offline usable. Did I understand the differences between this three types right? (as a beginner I have also not experience with this and are also interested in specialists meaning) Jens
 
AlanMac
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11/17/12 03:44 AM (13 years ago)
Aahh, if you want the app to work offline, that changes things a little bit. Not a lot though, html is still the way to go. But, instead of using a custom/html pages (which are cacheable after the first download btw), you might prefer to make an html page and save that in your project and link to it using the html doc plugin. You are right about good and bad points, using html will be good for size and you could be offline too if that is necessary. Viel gluck Alan
 

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