Word-to-HTML Document Conversion Using Netscape's 'Composer' HTML editor

INTENDED AUDIENCE: People who wish to get course materials online, but who are still trying to make time to learn FrontPage or some other html software. This is a relatively quick way to prepare a Word document for Web publication, using software that has been routinely installed on Wright State computers.

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Transferring the Text

    1. Open your Word document, and Save As to a floppy or drive of your choice.
    2. Working from the opened document in the drive/folder you just saved to, choose Edit, Select All to highlight and select the entire document.
    3. Open the Netscape browser. This does mean you will work between two windows. On a PC, you can switch windows using the "Task Bar Buttons" [bottom of screen] representing open programs/windows.
    4. From the top menu, choose File, New, Blank Page, which opens a new page in Composer, Netscape's html editor.
    5. Use Edit, Paste or the picture-button for the Paste command to paste your Word text into the Netscape Composer page.

Browser Page Title

    1. Choose Format, Page Colors and Properties.
    2. Verify that you are looking at the General view, the first tabbed menu -- click on the General tab if another menu has opened.
    3. In the Title box, fill in an identifying, descriptive page title such as English 458-01 Syllabus: Fall, 2001. Netscape or IE will display this in the title bar at the top of the web page.
    4. Click "OK" -- other boxes on this menu are unnecessary for syllabus display.
    5. Click on the Colors and Background Tab if you wish to select customized colors for links and page background. Simply click on the colored bars to open a color palette menu with a variety of new hues to replace the defaults.

Adjusting Page Format Features

You will need to make adjustments for lost formatting. Here are a few common text formatting features that will not carry over to the web page copy, with suggestions for adjusting the web document:

Bolding Rebold the text in the Composer View, using the familiar B button.
Underlining Leave out underlining of headings; limit the emphasis to bolding to avoid confusing headings with hyperlinks.
Tab Spacing Re-tab the text, though since you cannot set the tabs to adjust their width, you may also need to use the space bar -- minimally -- to line up columns such as course and contact information at the top of the page. (Note: within a table, the tab key has other functions, and cannot be used for spacing. In most other cases, try to avoid using the spacebar for formatting as much as possible.)
Links

Re-create the link by selecting the text to be linked, then choosing Insert, Link -- or the "Link" picture button. The highlighted text will appear in bold near the top of the Character Properties menu that opens. Type or copy the complete web address into the "Link to" box and click OK.

Saving the New Page

    1. Choose Save As -- by default, the file type will be HTML, which is correct.
    2. Type in a filename that contains NO spaces, and keep the name relatively short. Use the underscore mark or run the words together instead. An excellent re-usable format for a syllabus filename, using the fictitious course above as an example, would be 01f458, signifying the year, the quarter, and the course number. Netscape Composer will supply the .html part of the name.
    3. Save this copy into K:/. Use the Save in down arrow to navigate to your K:/ folder. Do not assume you are already in the correct drive.

Linking to a Print Copy

Students can print directly from the web page, but the results may be unsatisfactory and the configuration of software or hardware on the user's end may produce right-margin cut-offs (incomplete text lines). A simple solution is to include a link to a Word version.

Previewing, Notifying the Web Manager, More Help

    1. Click on the Preview button to view your page as it will appear online. If satisfactory, proceed to the next step. If not, skip to step 3.
    2. Send email to the CoLA Web Manager to notify her that you have a file or files in your K:/ folder to load and link to your department and/or faculty page(s). Please identify indicated files by precise filename/s. Send the email to jane.blakelock@wright.edu.
    3. If you have problems with particular elements in your page, or something seems amiss, send email to Jane Blakelock, requesting assistance. Let her know if the files are in your K:/ folder, so that she can examine them and contact you about troubleshooting them.

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Updated 11-29-01 (jb)

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