I'm Not Happy!

[anotheranon]

Users of the "Save as HTML" function in software products by a Vendor Who Need Not Be Named should be shot. Please, please let me....

I just spent the whole day fixing errors for this woman who insisted upon editing her files with PowerPoint and saving out as an HTML file. Then wondering why the images don't show up, and wondering why in one case nothing showed up at all (it turned out to be an elaborate layered CSS HTML file that incredibly (or not) was not compatible with IE 5 (or probably any browser known to man)).

She would also keep working on files after she assured me I was done with them - thus insuring that we would end up copying over each other's work and creating even more havoc.

I understand the ignorant wanting to edit their own web pages but if you can't go under the hood, please just ask someone else to do this.

Comments

[geekchick]

HTML Tidy. If you have HomeSite, use the HTML Tidy codesweeper, which has an option to "Clean up Microsoft HTML". Not that it helps with the user end of the equation. ;)

[anotheranon.livejournal.com]

Oh, been using HTML Tidy and a similar function in Dreamweaver *religiously*.

They do help a lot but I have a feeling I'm going to be banging my head into a wall to trying to prevent "Save as HTML" in the first place.

[geekchick]

True, true. I must admit that I was tasked to put a Powerpoint presentation on the web, and I ended up doing "Save as HTML". It created an impressive slideshow, which naturally only worked in IE. Ran Tidy on it, and of course things didn't quite work anymore so I continued with my plan to just take bits of the saved-as HTML and create something not quite as nice but functional. I think MS-generated HTML has if anything gotten uglier, as now there's 397 likes of various XML stuff to strip out too.