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Subject:Re: Translation to HTML From:Eric Ray <ejr -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 29 Apr 1999 14:07:26 -0600
At 12:30 PM 4/29/99 -0700, Elna Tymes wrote:
>A more general question about HTML:
>
>Is there any package around that translates from something into really
>accurate HTML? I've been burned enough by Frame to know not to use the
>"Save As HTML" feature. I've now heard that Word's Save As HTML doesn't
>produce accurate HTML either. And I've heard that even going into
>Netscape's edit mode and editing an existing HTML page tends to produce
>slightly messed up HTML too. I don't have parallel experience with IE4.
Yes, Frame's Save As HTML, Word's Save As HTML, and Netscape
Composer and FrontPad all produce varying levels of crappy HTML.
Without repeating the discussion of "crappy HTML/is it an issue/
who cares", I'll volunteer that one line of text in Word 2000
results in 100 lines of "HTML code" (in a broad Microsoft sense)
if you use Save As HTML, versus 5 lines for a minimally
HTML 4 compliant conversion.
>Can you trust anything to do a really accurate translation? Or are you
>better off creating your text in one of the HTML creation packages?
Webworks Publisher from Quadralay does a fine job, as does
HTML Transit from InfoAccess. Both offer tremendous control,
the ability to customize and save the translation mappings
(e.g., mapping a specific frame style to a specific HTML tag).
You can also get as fancy as your HTML skills allow, complete
to inserting custom HTML code before or after mapped tags.
I've been using both a lot recently, so shout with questions.
Eric
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Eric J. Ray RayComm, Inc. http://www.raycomm.com/ ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com
*Award-winning author of several popular computer books
*Syndicated columnist: Rays on Computing
*Technology Department Editor, _Technical Communication_
