Re: conversion programs from ascii to HTML

I had the same problem Stu had.  IMHO I would just leave the files in
text/plain and hope that your visitors don't use MOSAIC "Final Beta" which
no longer views text/plain as an internal MIME type.  [...soap]  We put up
over 23,000 administrative decisions and would have been forever converting
them to html.  (See http://www.va.gov/)  But I dont pay your salary.  :-)

MS IA is nice for converting Word docs, but it doesn't give me the control I
prefer over the tagging of headers and the like.  For example, the folks I
work with dont use the doc info/summary fields consistantly, so I still have
to edit the <head> and <title> and <metaxxxx> fields manually.
Ocassionally, a document will turn to mush in the conversion, so I suggest
having some alternatives.  Often it easy to save the Word doc as text and
edit it manually.  

Another option is to use HTML Assistant to insert <P> tags in your
paragraphs.  Beware that HTML Asst (like MS Notepad) isnt good at files over
32K.  In that case I use MS WRITE.  HTML Asst is at:
 
  http://fox.nstn.ca/~harawitz/htmlpro1.html     or
  http://cs.dal.ca/ftp/htmlasst/htmlafaq.html

BTW I dont use shareware MS IA for tables; it pads with spaces.  Instead,
try HoTMetal from SoftQuad whcih converts Word tables to html tables.  SQ
makes is hard to write bad html.  Visit them at:

  http://www.sq.com/

ANT_HTML is a macro based Word 6 html converter/editor.  ANT gives you a
better feel for html than MS IA. But it can get hung up in a table.  The
public version can also mistag bold-italics and other combinations.  The
demo version is available at

   ftp.einet.net/einet/pc   (.zip file format) and
   ftp.einet.net/einet/mac/html-aids/   (.sit file format)

Another Word convertor/editor is Chinese Univ HTML, available for free from
Anton Lam <Anton@csc.msmail.cuhk.hk>.  Georgia Tech also has a macro
converter.  Both have their ideosyncrasies like ANT_HTML.  If you encounter
problems with one, use another.  

BTW Word Perfect WPIP is at ftp.wordperfect.com/pub/wpapps/intpub

All this info is posted at NCSA I believe.  (without the editorial
commentary).  

At 01:46 PM 8/2/95 -0700, Stuart Harris wrote:
>Lori wrote.....
>> 
>> I am trying to find a good conversion program for ascii files to HTML
>> documents.  We are in the process of converting many, many, many ascii
>> files to HTML and it would be much easier if there was a program that would
>> do it automatically.
>> 
>> Any suggestions??
>
>This is a maximally confusing question, since of course HTML documents are 
>ASCII documents.
>
>If you mean "how can I translate whatever format cues exist in the originals 
>to HTML tags?" then one suggestion -- if you're a Windows type -- is to import 
>your documents into Word for Windows 6.0x and convert them using Microsoft 
>Internet Assistant. IA is free, from 
>ftp.microsoft.com/deskapps/word/winword-public/ia.
>
>It'll do its best to translate formatting, including some tables & forms. Just 
>don't try installing radio button!
>
>There are similar translators for Word Perfect et al.
>
>Hope that's a help,
>Stu Harris
>
>
>
Walter Houser                                               202-565-9572
houser@cpcug.org                                            301-427-3792
Have the Courage to Be Imperfect - R. Driekurs

Received on Wednesday, 2 August 1995 17:59:14 UTC