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Open formats are becoming increasingly more important when publishing content at Public Health England.
In this article, we will look at:
- what open formats are, and what they mean to you
- why we are moving away from formats like Microsoft Word and Excel documents (.doc and .xls)
- how you can get started using open formats
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For this reason, we need to either use an open format , or provide an open format alternative for the users who require it.
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There is an open format equivalent to most of the familar file types. Most of these can be accessed from your software's Save As... menu.
Please see below for some Some examples:
| Document type | Closed format | Open format alternative |
|---|---|---|
Report, policy paper, guidance | Microsoft Word document (DOC) | OpenDocument Text (.ODT) HTML document attachment |
Spreadsheet Database | Microsoft Excel spreadsheet (XLS) | OpenDocument Spreadsheet (ODS) Comma Separated Values file (CSV) |
Presentation | Microsoft Powerpoint (PPT) | Open Document Format (ODF) |
Always present an accessible option
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However, you always have the option to upload a document to GOV.UK in both a closed format and an open format.
Please see below for an An example:
Software to access open format documents
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This means that even if someone opens an open format document, they can choose to save it as .DOC or .XLS if they like.If you have any questions about open formats that hasn't been covered in this blog post, why not get in touch with us at digitalcontent@phe.gov.uk.
The easiest way to save in open formats is to make it the automatic default option in your software.
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