[UCLP] Summery of course format options

[William Chambers]

Researched options for the format of course lessons

Currently on the table are the following,
OpenOffice Documents (.odt)
Plain Text (.txt)
Sphinx (.txt)
DocBook (.xml?)
AsciiDoc (.txt)

Following are advantages and disadvantages for each. Please note that
this is not an extensive list and may not include the obvious.



OpenOffice Documents (.odt)

ADVANTAGES: Pre-Installed on Ubuntu, Open Format, Ease of Editing

DISADVANTAGES: Currently impossible to use with bzr or version control,
Difficult to keep consistent styling, Any changes to styles will result
in large amounts of labor to update previous courses.

EXAMPLE: N/A (Too lazy to make one up.)

SUMMERY: .odt would be very difficult to keep updated and consistent but
is very easy for course creators.



Plain Text (.txt)

ADVANTAGES: Universal format, Everything from a cell phone to an
expensive toaster can read text files. bzr and VCS systems can highlight
per-line changes Text-to-Speech works well with it and it is more
accessible for those with disabilities.

DISADVANTAGES: Dull, sometimes hard to read, doesn't support any kind of
styling.

EXAMPLE: This E-Mail.

SUMMERY: Easier to maintain then .odt but the lack of styling makes it a
poor choice.



Sphinx (.txt)

ADVANTAGES: Same as those of Plain Text with the addition of styling
using Restructured Text.

DISADVANTAGES: Limited translation support, Must be compiled into .html.

EXAMPLE: http://pastebin.com/f58b09150

SUMMERY: Not a bad choice but it has limited use outside python
projects. Lack of translation support is a major future problem if used.



DocBook (.xml)

ADVANTAGES: Universal format used by many book publishers. Very
supported for conversion into other formats.

DISADVANTAGES: XML is very difficult to write, very complex, hard to
read and simply not user-friendly.

EXAMPLE: http://pastebin.com/f7d29f1c9

SUMMERY: Good choice, but the difficult syntax and lack of WYSIWYG
Editors creates a massive barrier to entry.



AsciiDoc (.txt)

ADVANTAGES: Same advantages of DocBook with the addition of text editing
and an easier to read format.

DISADVANTAGES: Some may find editing .txt files hard, but I'm not sure
there's any way around this.

EXAMPLE: http://pastebin.com/f22ac7b5f

SUMMERY: IMO the best choice as it gives all the advantages of DocBook
without the difficult syntax or learning curve.

-- 
William Chambers <william at bioselement.com>
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