Pros and Cons of Potential Digital Formats for a Portfolio
Electronic portfolios can be created in many different ways. Pros and
cons associated with three of the most common formats are outlined
below.Microsoft Word
Summary:With this format, it’s easy to create, modify, and store
portfolios locally, but difficult to transmit portfolios to others.
Requirements:- If you have a computer, you probably have Microsoft Word, because
it is the most popular word processing software in the world. Mi-
crosoft Word is available on nearly every university and commercial
workstation, because it is the preferred software for editing docu-
ments. The creator of a Word document must have this software and
the recipient must have Word or the Word Viewer to be able to view
the transmission (see disadvantages below).
Advantages: - Since Word does not compress image content noticeably, it is an ideal
place to store and edit portfolios. Word documents store the complete
detail and clarity of the original digital image that is inserted. Con-
sequently, the Word document’s file size is large, but this size does
not matter for your Master Portfolio because you will probably not
need to transmit it frequently. From Word you can create a targeted
portfolio and export it to a PDF or HTML format that is smaller in
size. - Word makes it easy to position graphics and text and create attrac-
tive portfolios.
Disadvantages: - Word documents containing images are usually very large, making
transmission by e-mail nearly impossible. This is because Word does
not compress image content to preserve clarity. Alternatively, you
can burn a CD with a large Word document on it and mail it, but
that would eliminate the speed to be gained by using an electronic
portfolio. - Documents opened and printed by the recipient closely resemble
what is initially created, but significant discrepancies can exist. For
example, if you create a one-page resume on a PC using Arial font
and e-mail it to a Macintosh user, the document may print on two
pages. This result occurs because many Macintosh computers do not
have the Arial font and thus substitute the slightly larger Helvetica
font. In Helvetica, a resume that was designed to fit on one page may
get spread onto two pages. Other slight discrepancies arise with
spacing and formatting between the various versions of Word.
Therefore, no guarantee exists that what you save and transmit as
a Word document will look the same once it has been transmitted.
134 Part I: Building, Using, and Maintaining Your Career Portfolio