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Word offers content immutability with its read-only mode, not sure how much layout change there is, though how much pixel perfection do you need in legal proces

by eviks 3y ago

Word offers content immutability with its read-only mode, not sure how much layout change there is, though how much pixel perfection do you need in legal processes that are mostly pure text?

david_draco 3y ago
If you have a 300-page legal document, and other sources reference passages, e.g., a paragraph on page 234. It would be unreliable if over the years or depending on the viewer it moves to another page.
- eviks 3y ago
  that's why legal documents number the paragraphs, otherwise it's unreliable over the days you edit the document, no need to wait years for the app to change layout
- bobbylarrybobby 3y ago
  Isn't the solution to that not to fix your document’s pixels, but rather to have auto updating references (a la LaTeX)?
gilcot 3y ago
Does read-only mode not suffer from some global settings? Also, what happens when the reading instance doesn't have all the used fonts for example?
- eviks 3y ago
  What global setting? Nothing happens, embedded fonts feature isn't exclusive to PDFs
cinntaile 3y ago
Sometimes vital images disappear and the layout gets messed up. I haven't had that happen to me with a pdf.
- kibwen 3y ago
  Though keep in mind that a given PDF might not embed the font that it uses (the PDF creator might not even have the legal right to embed whatever font they're using), so opening a PDF on other machines can cause them to be messed up if those machines don't have the correct fonts installed. If you want literally pixel-perfect layout, you need to use a raster image format like PNG.
  - wombatpm 3y ago
    PDF is a container. You can put TIFF images, one per page, into the file
midasuni 3y ago
What version of word. PDF has many free implementations for both reading and writing.
srvmshr 3y ago
Ever observed how legal documents, product documentation, books etc., are typeset - with exact placement of comment boxes, US code reference/legal disclaimers/ barcode, precise footnotes or margin notes. Many of those are meant to be also machine readable when printed out. Exactness is a very pressing need. I would recommend taking a good look again. It might answer you why it is preferred in some situation to be typeset in PDF over a format where text could reflow. About the immutability in Word, it seems optional & not something by design. You can edit any *docx & 'Save it as' back. This feature doesn't absolve immutability as a principal feature.

by eviks 3y ago

Word offers content immutability with its read-only mode, not sure how much layout change there is, though how much pixel perfection do you need in legal processes that are mostly pure text?

david_draco 3y ago

If you have a 300-page legal document, and other sources reference passages, e.g., a paragraph on page 234. It would be unreliable if over the years or depending on the viewer it moves to another page.

eviks 3y ago
that's why legal documents number the paragraphs, otherwise it's unreliable over the days you edit the document, no need to wait years for the app to change layout
bobbylarrybobby 3y ago
Isn't the solution to that not to fix your document’s pixels, but rather to have auto updating references (a la LaTeX)?

gilcot 3y ago

Does read-only mode not suffer from some global settings? Also, what happens when the reading instance doesn't have all the used fonts for example?

eviks 3y ago
What global setting? Nothing happens, embedded fonts feature isn't exclusive to PDFs

cinntaile 3y ago

Sometimes vital images disappear and the layout gets messed up. I haven't had that happen to me with a pdf.

kibwen 3y ago
Though keep in mind that a given PDF might not embed the font that it uses (the PDF creator might not even have the legal right to embed whatever font they're using), so opening a PDF on other machines can cause them to be messed up if those machines don't have the correct fonts installed. If you want literally pixel-perfect layout, you need to use a raster image format like PNG.
- wombatpm 3y ago
  PDF is a container. You can put TIFF images, one per page, into the file

midasuni 3y ago

What version of word. PDF has many free implementations for both reading and writing.

srvmshr 3y ago

Ever observed how legal documents, product documentation, books etc., are typeset - with exact placement of comment boxes, US code reference/legal disclaimers/ barcode, precise footnotes or margin notes. Many of those are meant to be also machine readable when printed out. Exactness is a very pressing need. I would recommend taking a good look again. It might answer you why it is preferred in some situation to be typeset in PDF over a format where text could reflow. About the immutability in Word, it seems optional & not something by design. You can edit any *docx & 'Save it as' back. This feature doesn't absolve immutability as a principal feature.