Re: Word 2003 XML

On 2006-06-16 17:52:00 +0100, Jim Gordon <goldkey74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

Office 2004 is unable to understand the new XML file format for Word and PowerPoint at this moment. Excel 2004 is able to understand the new format (I think - haven't had a chance to try it yet).

Thanks. I think it sounds as though it is best avoided for the moment. I basically work in a Windows world so it is useful to be able to move doc files over to the Mac for homework.


The advantage of XML is that it is human readable, at least to those humans who read XML code. XML is an open format meaning that anyone can create XML code and it will be interchangeable with other documents. It is not proprietary.

The appearance of file sizes being smaller is sleight of hand. The old .doc format is a binary format. Binary formats are more efficient than text, but are not open standards based. XML is text, and hence requires large file sizes. The sleight of hand is because the XML files are automatically zipped (compressed) before they are saved they seem to be smaller. For a fair comparison, zip a .doc format document and compare that size to the same XML document.

I have to say it didn't strike me as looking like a zip file when I opened it in a text editor. When I opened an ODF file in this way the PKZIP reference at the top of the file was immediately striking.

ODF does seem to be a very much more /open/ format. Having played with it in the past I really like that one can open the zip file, edit the XML that is the text, change the PNG images then open the file in OpenOffice with all those changes in place.
--
Cheers,

Steve

The reply-to email address is a spam trap.
Email steve 'at' shodgson 'dot' org 'dot' uk

.

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