LaTeX would get my vote every time. RST or Markdown are a little too simple for a complicated document ultimately destined for hard copy publication. I would definitely stay well clear of `binary coded' formats like Word or OpenOffice. Although they have versioning features built in, these are not amenable to distributed collaboration in the way that git repositories makes possible. I do not know enough about YAML or JSON to comment, never having used them in documents.
On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 12:28 PM, Chris Barker <[email protected]> wrote: > On Mon, Sep 22, 2014 at 8:24 AM, Christopher Duncombe Rae - NOAA Affiliate > <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Another point which you did not stress is that with a revision tracking >> system like git / github, the evolution of the document can be tracked and >> if necessary reverting to an earlier version is almost trivial. >> > > Yes -- a great feature. > > But it requires that you use a document format that is amenable to > diff-ing and merging. i.e a simple hard to break text format. > > Structured text markup may be the best: ReStructured Text or Markdown > LaTeX is pretty good. > A general markup language like YAML or JSON could be good, too, if tehre > is a tool for making it into nice html/pdf, etc documents. > XML can be done, but is ugly and painful > > MS-Word, OpenOffice, and the like make it pretty much impossible. > > Was a format settled on in the last discussion about all this? > > -Chris > > > -- > > Christopher Barker, Ph.D. > Oceanographer > > Emergency Response Division > NOAA/NOS/OR&R (206) 526-6959 voice > 7600 Sand Point Way NE (206) 526-6329 fax > Seattle, WA 98115 (206) 526-6317 main reception > > [email protected] > -- -- -- ======================================================================= Dr. Christopher M. Duncombe Rae c <[email protected]> [email protected] Oceanographer / Data Scientist IOOS/NOAA, Suite 1225, 1100 Wayne Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA Tel: +1-301-427-2450 Fax: +1-301-427-2073
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