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Re: Need a tool that converts HTML into well-formed XML,and nothing more

• From: Matt Sergeant <matt@s...>
• To: Frank Boumphrey <bckman@i...>
• Date: Thu, 21 Sep 2000 23:35:57 +0100 (BST)

On Thu, 21 Sep 2000, Frank Boumphrey wrote:

> > >conform to their standards. This unfortunately results in visual
> anomalies
> > >in the output.
> 
> I would be interested in what problems you encounter. I have used Tidy quite
> exclusivly, and have never had a problem. As far as I can see apart from
> adding a namespace declaration and a public identifier, it does convert the
> original HTML to 'pure' XML. And you can always write a simple script to
> strip the namespace declaration and the identifier.

Browsers are often whitespace sensitive, even where the HTML spec says
they shouldn't be. If Tidy affects the whitespace in any way (I don't know
- I don't use it), then it could have an adverse effect on the appearance
of some web pages.

However my response to this is that Tidy should be a first step to moving
your site to XHTML, not the final step. Relying on your tool to convert
from one format to another without visual anomolies is playing with fire
(witness all the Word .DOC converters out there for another example).

-- 
<Matt/>

Fastnet Software Ltd. High Performance Web Specialists
Providing mod_perl, XML, Sybase and Oracle solutions
Email for training and consultancy availability.
http://sergeant.org | AxKit: http://axkit.org

• References:
  • Re: Need a tool that converts HTML into well-formed XML,and nothing more.
    • From: Frank Boumphrey <bckman@i...>

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