migration from html to xhtml/css

[Amit]

Hi
i have a site with a huge number of pages which uses pure html with
font tag etc.
i plan to migrate the whole thing into xhtml/css and i am looking for
some automated tool for this

i used tidy, but tidy makes inline css for everypage and i want a
single external css file.

Also im looking if there is any good content management solution for
this

Anyone who has done similar migration might be of help

thanks

[Jukka K. Korpela]

pr***********@yahoo.com (Amit) wrote:

i have a site with a huge number of pages which uses pure html with
font tag etc.
Well, try to create new pages better.
i plan to migrate the whole thing into xhtml/css
Why? Isn't it more productive to create something new, or to update the
content of the pages. Sometimes updates are so thorough that you can
just as well redo the design too, but rewriting pages just to be modern
is rather futile. Actually, it's worse than futile if you really intend
to use XHTML, since properly served XHTML does not work on any existing
version of IE.

If you expect this to be possible using automated tools, I'm afraid you
can't have very good reasons. The use of font tags etc. means that you
have not separated structure from presentation.
If you seriously expect programs to be able to do that for you,
then you still don't know what it's about.
and i am looking for some automated tool for this

Well, then neither of the groups that you posted to wasn't the right
one; that's the case in crossposting more often than not. So _if_ you
still want to know about tools, try the .tools group, and this time
please specify which authoring environment you use.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

[Rene Schöneich]

"Jukka K. Korpela" <jk******@cs.tut.fi> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Xn*****************************@193.229.0.31. ..

pr***********@yahoo.com (Amit) wrote:

i have a site with a huge number of pages which uses pure html with
font tag etc.
Well, try to create new pages better.

i plan to migrate the whole thing into xhtml/css

Why? Isn't it more productive to create something new, or to update the
content of the pages. Sometimes updates are so thorough that you can
just as well redo the design too, but rewriting pages just to be modern
is rather futile. Actually, it's worse than futile if you really intend
to use XHTML, since properly served XHTML does not work on any existing
version of IE.

Source? Arguements? Im interessted!
If you expect this to be possible using automated tools, I'm afraid you
can't have very good reasons. The use of font tags etc. means that you
have not separated structure from presentation.
If you seriously expect programs to be able to do that for you,
then you still don't know what it's about.

and i am looking for some automated tool for this

Well, then neither of the groups that you posted to wasn't the right
one; that's the case in crossposting more often than not. So _if_ you
still want to know about tools, try the .tools group, and this time
please specify which authoring environment you use.

--
Yucca, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

Rene

[Darin McGrew]

"Jukka K. Korpela" <jk******@cs.tut.fi> wrote:

Actually, it's worse than futile if you really intend to use XHTML,
since properly served XHTML does not work on any existing version of IE.

Rene Schöneich <re**@meinvorname.s.tldfuerde> wrote: Source? Arguements? Im interessted!

Read Appendix C of the XHTML 1.0 spec, and then read some of the commentary
(e.g., http://www.hixie.ch/advocacy/xhtml ).
--
Darin McGrew, mc****@stanfordalumni.org, http://www.rahul.net/mcgrew/
Web Design Group, da***@htmlhelp.com, http://www.HTMLHelp.com/

"It's easier to stay out than to get out." - Mark Twain

[Stephen Poley]

On 8 Feb 2004 12:57:07 -0800, pr***********@yahoo.com (Amit) wrote:

i have a site with a huge number of pages which uses pure html with
font tag etc.
i plan to migrate the whole thing into xhtml/css and i am looking for
some automated tool for this

i used tidy, but tidy makes inline css for everypage and i want a
single external css file.

It is most unlikely that this can be done automatically. Your external
CSS file will in any case have to be created manually: for example no
tool can create meaningful class names for you. And no tool can
determine whether two very similar <font> elements differ for a reason
or not.

You can then speed up the conversion of individual files with a good
macro-editor, but it remains a basically manual process. Concentrate on
doing new pages correctly, and tidy up old pages when they need to be
updated anyway.

Based on my experience with converting a few tag-soup pages, it's often
easier not to convert them as such (by which I mean writing a macro
which tries to convert a particular font definition to a particular
class), but to start by simply stripping out all the <font> junk
completely, and then add the classes back in manually.

--
Stephen Poley

http://www.xs4all.nl/~sbpoley/webmatters/