About HTML
HTML Tutorials
If you are new to creating Web pages and HTML, the HyperText Markup Language
that is behind them, check out the online tutorials listed below. You may
also want to investigate the Web publishing classes offered by MIT's Information
Systems Training Group.
A number of books on HTML are available; check the selections at Quantum
Books or The Coop.
HTML Editors and Converters
HTML Editors
In addition to learning to write HTML code, you can also create your pages
using WYSIWYG* HTML editing programs like Macromedia
Dreamweaver (available for MAC and PC platforms), or HotMetal
( available under Athena). These work like word processing packages. MIT
has a site license for Dreamweaver 3, which is the IS-supported and recommended
HTML editor for MIT Web pages. You can obtain
a copy of Dreamweaver 3 by filling in the online regisration forms
linked to from the Dreamweaver
at MIT page.
*"What you see is [almost] what you get."
HTML Converters
Converter programs translate documents from their original application
format into HTML. These programs can save time when converting word processing,
spreadsheet, or other document types to HTML, especially when the alternative
is to code the document in HTML by hand. Be aware that, except for the
simplest of documents, the results from these conversions can vary greatly,
usually with only partial success. After converting a document, you will
probably need to do some work on the HTML to get the desired look on the
resulting Web pages.
The following are converters commonly used at MIT:
-
LaTeX and TeX
-
Two programs are available on Athena for converting LaTeX and TeX files
into HTML: latex2html
and TtH.
-
FrameMaker
-
You can save a FrameMaker document in HTML: from the File menu select Save
As; in the Save Document dialog box, go to the Format drop-down list and
select HTML; remember to rename the file with a suffix of ".html".
-
RTF (Rich Text Format)
-
On Macintosh, Windows, and other systems, word processing files saved as
Rich Text Format can be converted to HTML using RTFtoHTML.
You can download RTFtoHTML
for free.
-
Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
-
In recent versions of Microsoft Office you can save Word, Excel, PowerPoint,
or Access documents as HTML: open the document in the appropriate application;
go to the File menu; select Save as HTML; remember to rename the file with
a suffix of ".html". (In PowerPoint and Access a Wizard will help you create
the HTML file.) Dreamweaver 3 has a special tool
to clean up MS Word HTML conversions.
Do not link documents in proprietary formats such as Word or Excel, or
other word processor or spreadsheet formats, directly to your web pages.
Your readers may not have a compatible application installed, which mean
they will either have to find some other application to convert the data
or it won't be inaccessible to them.
Documents in other formats can sometimes be converted to HTML either
by using converters within the original application, or by using external
applications. Conversion service bureaus may also be of help.
List of other HTML converters