Hypertext Mark Up Language (HTML)

This is the general format used for web pages designed primarily to be read online.

Some documents do not convert easily to HTML:

• the formal "hanging indentation" with numbered headings and paragraphs is not easy to reproduce as a web page
• lengthy documents (eight or more A4 pages) cannot easily be published as HTML files without being "split" into sections and given necessary navigation and/or a separate contents page

It is better to provide these files in PDF and RTF format (see below).

Portable Document Format (PDF)

This format produces high-quality documents that preserve the page layout, graphics, fonts and pagination of the original. PDFs are designed to be read online but are best printed. PDF documents are read with the Adobe Acrobat PDF reader or with the Acrobat plug-in automatically installed with recent versions of Internet Explorer and other web browsers. The document can be navigated using page thumbnails or bookmarks.

Documents are not directly produced in PDF. They are usually produced in word processing or desktop publishing packages and then converted to PDF. Recent versions include the capability to produce PDF forms which can be filled out directly on screen and then either printed or submitted online. These more advanced features do require the use of the full Adobe Acrobat package, which is currently not part of UC's standard installation. Otherwise only the Acrobat Distiller - available on a UC server - is necessary. Conversion is generally automatic and extremely rapid.

PDF has the disadvantage that hyperlinks, while possible, are clumsy in appearance and sometimes unreliable in action. Backwards compatibility is another problem, i.e., a document produced in Acrobat 4 usually cannot be read in the Acrobat 3 reader. PDF documents may not meet accessibility standards unless produced strictly according to Adobe's own procedures for increasing accessibility for persons with disabilities. It is not advisable to publish a document in PDF only. If it is nessessary for persons with a disability to read the document in the course of their studies, it is recommended that the document is also published in another format, e.g. HTML or RTF.

More information about PDF can be obtained from Adobe's Australian website.

Word / Rich Text Format (RTF)

Word documents can be uploaded to the Web and either read automatically in Word or via a browser plug-in. Modern web browsers can be set to automatically open Word in such cases. Otherwise, users can download the file to their hard disks to be read later.

While documents created with recent versions of Word (2000, XP) are equally readable for Macintosh and PC, earlier versions of Word produce documents which may not be readable on different platforms. (A document produced in Windows 97 on PC may not work for a reader using a Macintosh.) This problem can usually be overcome by saving and uploading the document in RTF.

Documents in Word or RTF are designed to be printed out and read in hard copy, rather than read online.