This is a big problem with most HMTL conversion programs. It's why I
still write my Web pages with text editors (currently TextPad) and
grimace every time I import my HTML files into any supposedly
user-friendly HTML editor.
> So I figured I would fix it and then save the document.
> I then reloaded the newly saved document. The problem re-appeared! > It
> also took out some blank lines. I thought perhaps the problem here
> might be in its display from within Word only. So I viewed it from
> Netscape and sure enough, Word with the help of it's Internet Assistant
> changed the formatting.
Netscape's Netscape Navigator Gold Editor does even nastier things. So
did HoTMetaL 2.0, and WordPerfect Internet Assistant. Insofar as the
importing program treats your HTML data as a browser would, it ignores
hard return characters and spaces that you (the author) may find very
helpful for editing the raw code. Then when the "improved" (ahem) file
is exported, you get a document without the use of white space that you
find helpful. Quite maddening.
> A line that was indented with 4 hard spaces
> was deleted while the remaining text in that section was untouched.
That is completely unacceptable behavior in an HTML text editor.
> I
> also tested it by loading a new copy in Word with the Internet
> Assistant and saved it to a new file. Then opened it from Netscape and
> it caused formatting problems too. I looked at the HTML that Word
> wrote out and they placed their own credits in there:
>
> <META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Internet Assistant for Microsoft Word 2.0">
> </HEAD>
That "GENERATOR" attribute for the <meta> tag is, in all instances,
merely advertising piggy-backing on your Web pages. I'm deleting all the
"GENERATOR" tags I got from WordPerfect Internet Publisher in my current
phase of updating my Web pages.
> This was all pretty annoying. I was hoping to be able to simply edit what
> I saw in Word with the help of the Internet Assistant and then have a
> good Netscape friendly HTML Netscape version. Could it be that
> Microsoft is "conforming" to their own web browser and not Netscape? I
> gave their web browser a test drive before and it crashed repeated on
> trying to bring up their own home page.
NONE of the Web browser manufacturers have figured out how to write a
good HTML editor.
> ClarisWorks has HTML support, but you aren't editing exactly what you
> will see either. I have the sinking feeling that the best way for a
> Mac user to handle the writing of an FAQ is to manually put it into
> HTML and view it often by loading it into Netscape to see how it will
> look.
Netscape and OTHER Web browsers. Especially, look at how your pages will
look in Lynx, which you frequently access by FREE dial-up access through
public libraries. Text-only browsing is a small minority of all
browsing, but it's a good test for how your pages look without
graphics--many users of Netscape turn automatic downloading of graphics
off, knowing that graphics on Web pages too rarely convey useful
information.
> If I have to be concerned with not seeing what you are getting
> while I am editing, I might as well do it directly in HTML and avoid
> the additional "proof reading" to check the utility that is creating
> the HTML.
Yes.
> Visit Hosaphone(tm) Headquarters at:
> http://www.millcomm.com/~elw/hosaphone.html
--
Karl M. Bunday bunda002@gold.tc.umn.edu
http://198.83.19.39/School_is_dead/Learn_in_freedom.html
Unofficial Netscape FAQ
http://www.astro.ufl.edu/~oliver/faq/
Windows 95 Annoyances site
http://www.creativelement.com/win95ann/
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