Wizard Panel 5

Panel 5 of the WordToWeb Wizard gives you control over hypertext links in your documents. This panel also lets you specify exactly how various elements in your Word documents will be translated to HTML.

Cross-references and AutoLinking

WordToWeb can automatically convert Word cross-references into hypertext links. In addition, the Autolinking features allows you to specify words or phrases which will automatically become hypertext links in your HTML pages.

To access these features, click the Cross-references and AutoLinking button to display the dialog box shown below.

Check the box at the top of the dialog box (this box is checked by default). Microsoft Word offers a number of options for creating cross-references in your documents. For more information, please see Creating Links in your HTML Pages in the last chapter of this manual, as well as your Microsoft Word documentation.

AutoLinking allows you to specify that certain words and/or phrases will become hypertext links when your document is converted to HTML. Unlike cross-references, which are a good way to create internal links between sections within your publication, AutoLinking is primarily intended for you to create links to pages external to your HTML publication.

Here are some examples of ways you might use AutoLinking:

• Convert every occurrence of the title of a related HTML document into a hypertext link to the document.
• Convert every occurrence of a product, service or project name into a link to information about the product, service or project.
• Convert every occurrence of a department or individual's name into an email hyperlink.

The AutoLink feature uses a plain text file in which you specify the phrases which you want to convert into links and corresponding target URLs. Because this information is maintained in a separate file, you can easily use your link definitions in multiple projects or distribute your AutoLink file to other WordToWeb users in your organization.

Each line of the AutoLink file is formatted as follows:

word or phrase=target_url

For example:

Network Configuration Manual=http://ourintranet/pubs/config.html

WordToWeb=http://www.solutionsoft.com/w2winfo.html

Bill Gates=mailto:bgates@microsoft.com

1. Click the Cross-references and AutoLinking button in wizard panel 5.
2. In the Cross-references and AutoLinking dialog box, check the box to enable AutoLinking.
3. Click the Select button and use the Open dialog box to choose an AutoLink file. To create a new file, navigate to the desired folder and type a name for the file. Autolink files are plain text (.txt) files.
4. Click the Edit button. The AutoLink file will be opened in your text editor. Type the entries in the AutoLink file using the syntax described above.
5. Close and save the AutoLink file.

You can add a comment to an AutoLink file by beginning the line with a semicolon ";". Comment lines will be ignored by WordToWeb.

Specifying Word to HTML Translations

When WordToWeb translates your Word documents into HTML it will generally preserve the text formatting to the fullest extent possible. For the bulk of the material in your documents, this usually produce a good result. However, in some cases you may want to have exact control over how a particular Word font or paragraph style translates into HTML. Or perhaps you might like to add special formatting or effects to certain text in order to take full advantage of the display capabilities built into HTML.

The Word To HTML Translations dialog box gives you complete control over how particular elements in your source documents will be translated. This feature can be especially useful if your source Word documents are formatted for black and white printing; you can easily add color and even dynamic effects such as marquee and blinking text to your HTML pages—without the need to modify your source documents.

Here are just a few things you can do with this feature:

• Specify that text in a particular font or style in your Word document will be displayed in a specific font, size, or color in the HTML pages.
• Highlight new or important text in your Word document and then specify that this text will be marked with a "NEW!" or "IMPORTANT!" graphic in the HTML pages. (See the information about using Word's highlight feature below for more information).
• Use shading in your Word document to set off important information such as Tips or Warnings. Then translate the shaded areas into colored boxes in your HTML pages.
• Add effects such as marquee (text which scrolls across the screen) or blinking text to material in your Word documents.
• Specify that certain material will not appear at all in your HTML pages. This lets you have material which appears in your source Word documents, but not in the HTML version.

1. Click the Specify Translations button in Wizard Panel 5. The Word To HTML Translations dialog box will appear.
2. On the left side of the dialog box, specify the Word source document formatting which you want to translate. (See the explanation of the various left side options below).
3. On the right side of the dialog box, specify one or more HTML formatting options for the translation. (See the explanation of the various right side options below).
4. When you have finished specifying the translation options, click the Add >> button.
5. You can then define more translations if you wish. When you are finished, click OK.

These options allow you to choose exactly which material in your Word document(s) you want to translate. You can choose only one of these options for each translation:

• Style allows you to apply special HTML formatting to material which is formatted in a particular Word style. You must type the name of the style in the box—this must exactly match the style name used in your Word document(s).
• Font allows you to apply special HTML formatting to text which is formatted in a particular font, size, color, etc. You must specify at least one of the options: font name, size, font style (bold, italic, underline), and color. The more options you specify, the more refined your translation will be.
• Highlighted allows you to translate only material which has been marked with Microsoft Word's highlighter tool.
• Shaded allows you to translate material which has a shaded background. This is done using Word's Format | Borders and Shading menu command.

These options allow you to specify how the translated material will be formatted in the HTML pages created by WordToWeb. You can choose more than one option if you wish; for example, you could mark text with a "NEW!" graphic and also format it in a special font or color.

• Deleted entirely will cause the specified material to not appear at all in your HTML pages. This is useful if you want to have text or graphics which appear in your source Word documents, but not in the HTML translation.
• Preceded by a graphic inserts the specified .GIF or JPG graphic immediately before the specified material. This is very useful for marking text as new, important, revised, etc.
• Specific text formatting lets you define exactly how text will be formatted in the HTML pages. You specify a font face name, text size, style (bold or italic) and color.
• Place in a colored box creates a colored box with the specified background color around the text. This option should be applied to one or more entire paragraphs. You can use this feature in conjunction with the Shading option on the left side of the dialog box to preserve shaded areas in your Word documents.
• Apply a heading style provides a way to use WordToWeb with documents which do not use the standard Word heading styles. You can specify a particular font formatting on the left side of the dialog box and then translate it into a heading.
• Marquee (L to R) or (R to L) creates text which scrolls across the screen in the specified direction. As of this writing, only Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 supports marquee text.
• Blinking causes the text to blink when displayed in the browser. As of this writing, only Netscape Navigator supports blinking text.
• Apply custom HTML Tags allows you to specify any HTML tags to be inserted before and after the translated item. This allows you to apply virtually any HTML formatting to specified material in your pages. Since the HTML standard is constantly evolving, you can use this feature to specify new HTML tags as they become available. Note that this feature requires direct knowledge of HTML tags. If you are not familiar HTML coding, you may wish to consult with your Webmaster or other HTML expert.

Using Microsoft Word's highlighter tool

Word's highlighter tool is a convenient way to quickly mark text in your source documents which you would like to handle in a special way in the HTML version of your publication. An important advantage of the highlighter is that it does not actually change the formatting of your source document and will not affect the way your document prints.

To use the highlighter, simply select the text you want to highlight, and then click the highlighter icon on Word's toolbar.

Related Topics

Wizard Panel 4

Creating Links within your Publications

Working with Word Heading Styles

Converting Documents which don't Use Styles