Lance, > I am still undecided if the ability for the user to edit the file > independently of the program is a good or bad thing.
I prefer user viewable plain (non-XML) text files because: - easy to make a change in case of emergency - easy to visually review and search - easy to version control, diff, and optionally spellcheck - easy to translate - easy to generate programmatically - less opportunity for corruption - best compression IMO, the 3 biggest advantages are: - easy to make field changes in case of emergency - diff - less opportunity for corruption Interesting thread. I'm looking forward to hearing what others say on this topic. Regards, Malcolm -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list