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Static Text and GraphicsStatic text, with or without graphics, is by far the most common form of Internet publication at the present time, though this may not be true in the future. The researcher converts his or her presentation into a machine-friendly format and places it on the Web or an ftp site. The readers function as pure consumers of the information, and the presentation itself, though much easier to revise or correct than a printed publication, still tends to remain relatively unchanged over time.
HTMLThe HyperText Markup Language is the most common format for Web publication. It's easy to learn (and there are many programs to make it even easier) and can be understood by any web browser. HTML does have a few problems, though. Documents are unlikely to look exactly the same across different browsers and operating systems. This isn't usually a problem, but can be frustrating when a precise layout of the information is needed. A
Beginner's Buide to HTML from NCSA
PostScriptPostScript is a language that was originally developed for paper publication. It allows precise layout of text and images. Though it can be somewhat daunting to learn, many desktop publishing programs will generate PostScript output without requiring any programming knowledge on the part of the user. Viewing PostScript documents can be tough if you don't have a printer or a program which understands it. There is a free viewer called GhostScript which works on many types of computer.
PDF (Adobe Acrobat)Like PostScript, the Adobe Acrobat format (also known as PDF) is designed to allow more control over the way that text and graphics are formatted. Free Acrobat viewers are available for many platforms. Download Adobe Acrobat viewer
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