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Topic: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

Conserving artwork in a new text file format

I write to suggest that those of us who are interested design a way to store artwork designs in a text based format that is open source and simple.

That way the artwork will not be vulnearble to future non-availability of software in the way that artwork recorded in a proprietary format is.

I suggest a format that is much like a loopless program written in the Algol 60 programming language.

So, for example,

Rectangle(100, 200, 500, 300);

none of the width=500, items that need decoding and that take up lots of space.

A numbers only procedure call for each preset shape type.

I know that it will need more complexity for other items such as custom shapes, and I know that initially there will not be any software that can read such files nor write them.

But if people are interested and join in with enthusiasm we might be able to produce something good here in this forum.

The specification will be public, can be sent for Legal Deposit at the British Library, and all artwork conserved in that format will not be vulnerable to being lost if proprietary software ceases to be available.

Do it here, do it now and maybe it can become a widespeard format with good software support in the future. Such software might be produced by a business that charges for the software, but people's artwork would not be vulnerable to the decisions of a business.

  • Alfred
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

William wrote:

Conserving artwork in a new text file format

I write to suggest that those of us who are interested design a way to store artwork designs in a text based format that is open source and simple.

That way the artwork will not be vulnearble to future non-availability of software in the way that artwork recorded in a proprietary format is.

Although HTML files and PDF files contain nothing but plain text, that doesn’t obviate the need for specialized software to display the contents in something other than text form.

“Welcome to the present moment. Here. Now. The only moment there ever is.”
― Eckhart Tolle
  • Registered: 2022-01-21
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

Alfred wrote:
William wrote:

Conserving artwork in a new text file format

I write to suggest that those of us who are interested design a way to store artwork designs in a text based format that is open source and simple.

That way the artwork will not be vulnearble to future non-availability of software in the way that artwork recorded in a proprietary format is.

Although HTML files and PDF files contain nothing but plain text, that doesn’t obviate the need for specialized software to display the contents in something other than text form.

As far as I am aware, neither HTML nor PDF are proprietary formats.

  • Alfred
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

William wrote:

As far as I am aware, neither HTML nor PDF are proprietary formats.

If they’re both non-proprietary, text-based formats, what do you hope to gain by creating another one?

“Welcome to the present moment. Here. Now. The only moment there ever is.”
― Eckhart Tolle
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

As far as I know, PDF is not intended to be read in for editing. it is intended to get print output that is precisely specified.

I am thinking of something that does what a .afdesign file does, yet without being linked to a proprietary file format that depends for its continuing accessibility on the decisions of a company.

  • Alfred
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

William wrote:

As far as I know, PDF is not intended to be read in for editing. it is intended to get print output that is precisely specified.

PDF may not originally have been conceived as a format for editable documents, but it is literally a Portable Document Format rather than just a document output format, and many programs — including every version of Serif PagePlus from PagePlus 8 PDF Edition onwards — can copy the content for editing (or even edit the PDF file directly).

William wrote:

I am thinking of something that does what a .afdesign file does, yet without being linked to a proprietary file format that depends for its continuing accessibility on the decisions of a company.

A noble aim, but we’re always going to be at the mercy of the developers who produce the software that reads the files, as well as those who develop the operating systems on which the editing software runs.

“Welcome to the present moment. Here. Now. The only moment there ever is.”
― Eckhart Tolle
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

Well, editing a PDF file was not as straightforward as editing a .afdesign file.

Yes, to some extent vulnerable to them, but the artwork would not be vulnerable to the possibility of being locked within an inaccessible file type and thus effectively lost.

But it really comes down to this: if people here want to enthusiastically join in and produce it as a group project then it has a chance of being successful.

It would be done here, how people here want it done.

  • dcr
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

Doesn't this already exist?  SVG is basically an XML text document.

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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

I don't know.

I just think that if a group pf people decide to have a go at doing it, then it might get somewhere.

The hardest part is getting started. That is really hard.

If it can get started it may well succeed as one thing can lead to another and another.

  • From: Tamworth Staffs UK
  • Registered: 2025-10-04
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

William wrote:

Well, editing a PDF file was not as straightforward as editing a .afdesign file.

Yes it is.
If you have Adobe Acrobat (not the reader) you can edit the PDF quite easily and I have done so many times.

There are other non-Adobe PDF editors, as well as other apps, like afpublisher and afdesign that can read and edit PDF's

Whereas they only app that can read an afdesign file is Affinity designer.

Then there is EPS that is portable.

We don't need another file format.

www.JAmedia.uk, primarily an Affinity Publisher V2 user for books and magazines.
[ Win 11 home | AMD Ryzen 5950X 16 Core CPU ]
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JAmedia's Website

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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

Reading a PDF document into Affinity programs always had problems with text that was on more than one line.

The hardest part is getting this started. If it got started it could be a great advance.

But the hardest part by far is getting it started.

Maybe it will not get started.

That is just how it is.

12 Reply by Ali

  • Ali
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

As others have already said, it's not needed. There isn't a gap in the market to fill.

Ali's Website

13 Reply by dcr

  • dcr
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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

Also, FWIW, Scribus files are also XML text documents.

14 Reply by William (edited by William 2025-10-12 14:11:21)

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Re: Conserving artwork in a new text file format

As I wrote, getting started is the hardest part.

If it got started, it might produce great results, but it seems that it won't get started, so that will be that.