Deurbanising the Web

[Jason McBrayer]

Stephane Bortzmeyer writes:

> But the conclusion will surprise many of you: instead of Gemini, he
> suggests…  PDF.

I can see a lot of where he's coming from. In my opinion, if you need
embedded images, mathematics, or complex tables or layout in a document,
serving PDF/A (over Gemini) is an extremely valid and cromulent choice.

I still think there are significant problems with PDF, even if you
restrict it to PDF/A. Reflowing PDFs is *possible* now, but still kind
of works like arse – try, for example, reading the D&D5E Player's
Handbook on a 6" eInk device, or a phone.

For a similar subset of problems, ePub is a great option, and far, far
better on small screens, but since ePubs are, at base, zipped folders of
HTML files, you still have a subset of the "why not a subset of HTML"
problem. I'm not 100% sure how restrictive the ePub specification is,
though, so it might not be a real problem at all.

-- 
Jason McBrayer      | “Strange is the night where black stars rise,
jmcbray@carcosa.net | and strange moons circle through the skies,
                    | but stranger still is lost Carcosa.”
                    | ― Robert W. Chambers,The King in Yellow