| HTML
Utilities for DOS (HTML strippers, converters, viewers.) Ratings: [* fair] to [* * * * * excellent] |
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Perhaps the finest HTML to text converter around- and it's free. Awarded a "Best" rating by PC Computing in their July 1996 issue. Many converters simply strip out codes- the resulting text may bear little resemblance to the original HTML document. HTMLStrip is more intelligent- it centers text that is bracketed by <center> tags. Tables can be converted into ASCII or ANSI tables, and so on. While both Netscape and MSIE have respectable "save as plain text" options- they lack the flexibility possessed by HTMLStrip. One reservation: HTMLStrip does not distinguish ordered and unordered list items.
Changes in version 704: Command now allows you to specify multiple file names from the command line. Added support for representing <INPUT VALUE=value> and <INPUT SIZE=size>. Added support for CHECKED parameter in <INPUT TYPE=CHECKBOX> and <INPUT TYPE=RADIO>. Changed the default for <INPUT> representation in the control file. Table cells with COLSPAN=n now extend across multiple columns (but ROWSPAN=n still doesn't go across multiple rows). Fixed error with not doing a newline after </TR> when /-TABLE in effect. Other miscellaneous changes.
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ViewHtml is a well-designed text mode offline html viewer and converter.
Special text (e.g., hyperlinks) is displayed in different colors. Image
viewing is supported (through an external DOS viewing application of your
choice) and under Windows (95) you can launch a web browser to view the
same file. Spawning of image viewer and web browsers doesn't work under
Win 3.1.
Other features:
revised 7-4-97
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This utility consists of a set of batch files and a search/replace program which convert a Netscape 2.x+ bookmark file into a formatted html page. Different batch files produce different designs (tables vs. no tables, different graphics, etc.). I had to read the docs pretty close to get this to work- the most important direction to note is that you have to place a copy of your bookmark file in the directory *above* the directory (i.e., the parent directory) containing the nbmc files. The appearance of the final html file obviously depends on how well you have organized your bookmark file (i.e., logical hierarchy).
Drawback: If you're bookmark file contains very long lines the ouput file will appear garbeled.
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From the documentation:
IMGTAB [columns]
Image Tab searches the entire current directory for .GIF, .PCX, .JPG and .BMP file names and creates an HTML document listing them. The HTML document - imgtab.htm - can then be browsed with a Web Browser to view all the images, with their names. The Web Browser's facilities can then be used to copy individual images, set them as wallpaper etc.
The optional [columns] parameter is a single number specifying how many columns to create. The default is one, but for viewing a large number of small images it is more convenient to have a number of columns.
There are some similar feeware utilities floating around but this one produces the nicest html output (i.e., with tables).
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Tagcase is a simple HTML tag case converter. It gives you the option of converting to lower or upper case tags. Comments will also be converted, but not attribute values. Use as a filter.
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On a web page, transparent GIF images blend in well with the background page color. Any color of an image can be designated as appearing the same as the page color- the image becomes "transparent" in these regions (e.g., text can "show through" from behind the image). Frankly, it's much easier to use a Windows graphics program (e.g., Lview) to create transparent GIF's, although this utiltity can be handy for batch processing.
Usage: D:\GIFTRANS.EXE [-t color|-T] [-B color] [-b color] [-g oldcolor=newcolor] [-c comment|-C] [-l|-L|-V] [-o filename] [-e filename] [filename] Convert any GIF file into a GIF89a, with the following changes possible: -t Specify the transparent color -T Index of the transparent color is the background color index -B Specify the transparent color's new value -b Specify the background color -g Change a color in the global color table -c Add a comment -C Remove old comment -l Only list the color table -L Verbose output of GIFs contents -V Verbose output while converting -o Redirect stdout to a file -e Redirect stderr to a file Colors may be specified as index or in the #rrggbb form.
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(c)1997 Richard L. Green