Reflowable document

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Example of reflowable text Reflowable text.svg
Example of reflowable text

A reflowable document is a type of electronic document that can adapt its presentation to the output device. Typical prepress or fixed page size output formats like PostScript or PDF are not reflowable during the actual printing process because the page is not resized. For end users, the World Wide Web standard, HTML is a reflowable format [1] as is the case with any resizable electronic page format.

In contrast to end user terminology, the notion of reflow is sometimes used to discuss desktop publishing program features for print publication page layout such as automatically balancing the amount of text in a number of columns. [2]

Reflow is not limited to text; 21st century scorewriters enable music notation to be reflowed between systems and pages in a similar way to how text reflows between lines and pages.

Examples

Besides HTML, commercially available systems include:

Xerox PARC has developed an experimental system that allows the reflow of any document using OCR layout analysis at word-level. [1]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">PDF</span> Portable Document Format, a digital file format

Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Based on the PostScript language, each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, vector graphics, raster images and other information needed to display it. PDF has its roots in "The Camelot Project" initiated by Adobe co-founder John Warnock in 1991.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interleaf</span> Defunct software company

Interleaf, Inc., was a company that created computer software products for the technical publishing creation and distribution process. Founded in 1981, its initial product was the first commercial document processor that integrated text and graphics editing, producing WYSIWYG output at near-typeset quality. It also had early products in the document management, electronic publishing, and Web publishing spaces. Interleaf's "Active Documents" functionality, integrated into its text and graphics editing products in the early 1990s, was the first to give document creators programmatic access to virtually all of the document's elements, structures, and software capabilities.

Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic-quality text and images comparable to traditional typography and printing. Desktop publishing is also the main reference for digital typography. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide variety of content, from menus to magazines to books, without the expense of commercial printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">QuarkXPress</span> Desktop publishing software

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adobe InDesign</span> Desktop publishing software

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">WYSIWYM</span> Acronym for "what you see is what you mean"

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Modes:

Document Content Architecture, or DCA for short, is a standard developed by IBM for text documents in the early 1980s. DCA was used on mainframe and IBM i systems, and formed the basis of DisplayWrite's file format. DCA was later extended as MO:DCA, which added embedded data files.

The following is a comparison of e-book formats used to create and publish e-books.

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References

  1. 1 2 Breuel, T.M.; Janssen, W.C.; Popat, K.; Baired, H.S. (2003). Antonacopoulus, Apostolos; Hu, Jianying (eds.). Web Document Analysis. World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd. p. 93. ISBN   981-238-582-7.
  2. 1 2 Sklar, David F.; van Dam, Andy (September 2005). "An Introduction to Windows Presentation Foundation". MSDN . Microsoft . Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  3. Burke, Pariah S. (2011). Mastering InDesign CS5 for print design and production. Wiley Publishing, Inc. p. 501. ISBN   978-0-470-65098-1.
  4. Burks, Michael R. (2006). Web accessibility : web standards and regulatory compliance. Apress. p. 379. ISBN   978-1-59059-638-8.
  5. "Reflow the contents of Adobe PDF documents" (PDF). Adobe Systems. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  6. "MOBI Support for Reflowable eBooks Frequently Asked Questions". Amazon. Retrieved 4 May 2022.