--- psiconv/trunk/docs/html4 2004/02/04 14:37:53 199 +++ psiconv/trunk/docs/html4 2004/02/04 15:28:56 200 @@ -1,55 +1,10 @@ This README provides information about the psiconv HTML4 output generator. -Output files generated using the option `-t HTML4' use cascading style sheets -(CSS1) with embedded style rules to specify all text formatting information, -rather than using the more commonly-used HTML version 2.0 and 3.2 elements such -as , ,
etc. Output files can thus only be properly displayed -on the more recent web-browsers such as Netscape 4.x and IE 4.0, but the output -is a much more accurate conversion from the original Psion document than is -possible with HTML 2.0 or 3.2. Browsers that do not support cascading style -sheets will show the text but no character or paragraph formatting. - -Output files that do not contain user-written HTML constructs should comply -with W3C's HTML 4.0 Strict DTD [not checked yet; anj 20-Jun-1999]. - -The text on the first line of the document header is used as the page title. - -Hard page-breaks are converted into a horizontal rule
. Unfortunately in -Netscape 4.51 any text following in the same paragraph loses its styling, so -this should really only be used at the end of a paragraph. - -Paragraph borders using the types dot-dash and dot-dot-dash are converted to -dashed and dotted respectively, as these two Psion types do not have a direct -equivalent in HTML 4.0. However Netscape 4.51 only seems to display borders as -solid, and in only one color (black). - -Netscape also doesn't seem to handle superscript and subscript properly using -the style sheet approach, so the reason these don't work is due to their bug, -not mine. - -Bullets are supported, but the output is not quite the same as on the Psion. -HTML lists don't allow you to pick your own character for the bullet like the -Psion does (you could use an image of the relevent character, but you'd have to -create it on-the-fly to get the right foreground color for full support), and -they're not particularly straight-forward to use, so I don't. - -Short HTML constructs such as hyperlinks and images can be entered in the Word -document by using the Psion characters CTRL+139 and CTRL+155 (the single -angle-quote characters lsaquo and rsaquo), which are converted into < and > -respectively in the output file. Longer constructs such as tables would -probably interact with the paragraph formatting to the detriment of both, -although if kept "on one line" (ie within a single Psion paragraph) they may be -feasible. - -The only major facilities provided by Psion Word that are missing from the -HTML4 output are support for tabs and embedded objects. Tabs look to be -impossible to implement properly because HTML does not provide an equivalent -construct (tables are not suitable for anything other than superficial support. -The classical typewriter model of tabs needs to know the current print position -in order to work out which tab stop to align to next; the print position of a -particular character will depend upon the font in use). Embedded objects need -the relevent stream formats to be documented and suitable converters -implemented (embedded Sheet files could be converted into tables, and Sketches -into inline images). - -- Andrew Johnson +Output files generated using the options -T HTML use only HTML 4.01 to +format their text. This has some drawbacks, as several layout options are +not available in plain HTML. The good news is that almost any browser +should accept the generated HTML and render the page in an acceptable way. + +Note that tabs, headers and footers are not rendered at all. Especially +the omission of tabs can cause ugly layouts. Unfortunately, there is not +a real solution for this.