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Word Viewer plug-in when a MS Word is hyperlinked in a web page

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From: Web Coordinator
Date: Aug 27, 2007 5:10PM

It was just pointed out to me that I should be adding a link to
download the MS Word Viewer on any page that has a link to a MS Word
document, just as I currently add the link to download Acrobat Reader
for any page with a link to a PDF. Is this common practice? I'm
worried that there are different versions of Word Reader depending on
the version of MS Word, there doesn't appear to be a MacIntosh
version and no persistent link location, etc. I see that there are
other Viewers for Excel and Power Point, and wonder how accessible
any of these applications are.

Our college lets faculty post PDF, MS Word, rtf, or txt, Excel or csv
files, to make materials available to their students. I've always
added the Acrobat Reader download link, but never linked to a plug-in
for text or spreadsheet files. It seems slightly different from a
PDF, since Word and Excel documents download and are not usually
displayed in the browser. Although I have noticed that on my PC
Internet Explorer is displaying MS Word files in a browser mode (but
of course I have the MS Word application on my machine). Other
browsers are not likely to have that feature.

Alternatively, I could restrict links to html or PDF documents, but
often faculty want the student to use the MS Word file as a working
document for an assignment. Many faculty simply find it easier to
post the MS Word document than convert it to PDF or HTML, so I have
lots of these.

I'd be interested in what the group is providing on web pages with
links to content like MS Word or Excel files.

Regards,
Pat Rees
Web Producer
<EMAIL REMOVED>