I'm making a web-based payroll system right now.  Since we need to generate print-outs of the data, I opted to format it using Microsoft's proprietary (?!) Rich Text Format (RTF).  I didn't choose PDF because it's a bit complicated, and because we are on a tight deadline (was it a correct decision?).  I have no formal training on this whatsoever, so I had to rely on samples to deduce some of the rules that make up this document language.

The text that MSWord generates is so horrible.  I had to examine lengthy sequences such as this:


This is fun! :)