General Discussions

**Ken Rogers** · 10-27-2007, 08:16 PM

I've been dabbling in website creation for the past three years, and am now starting to generate a little business. I am currently managing a website for which I receive both Word and .pdf files from my client on a daily basis. I'm not sure if I'm handling these Word/.pdf files in the easiest manner.

When I receive such a document, I select all of it's text, and paste it into a new XHTML file, creating a new web page. Then I go in and add various header tags (h1, h2, strong, etc) throughout the document so that my CSS files will achieve the look of the original document.

This is a tremendous amount of work, and I'm almost tempted not to create a new page, but simply a direct link to the file like so:
<a href="myLetter.doc">Read My Letter</a>.

I'm familiar with XHTML and CSS, but still very new to managing real-world websites. I would appreciate your guidance.

Ken Rogers

**ForrestCroce** · 10-27-2007, 11:56 PM

What are the advantages of publishing your info in Word or Acrobat or (x)html? If you're considering just linking to the files instead of turning them into pages, you should think about that. Each format has plenty of advantages, so the real question is which ones you benefit from.

Are the pages generally similar looking? Might it be easier to open an existing page, hit save as, then swap out the text, old for new? It sounds like you're pasting everything into an empty file / a clean slate, then typing all the tags by hand?

Software like Dreamweaver, Frontpage which is now Expression Web, GoLive, and others give you wysiwyg or "what you see is what you get" editors. They work a lot like MS Word, but save xhtml files instead of doc files. Or, there are server side CMS / content management systems that might work. I'll have to let someone else talk about those; the only one I have any experience with is Wordpress.

**ADAM Web Design** · 10-28-2007, 12:00 AM

You're right, Ken. There is an easier way to do this. Good question, too.

What you'll want to get your hands on is a Word to HTML converter. I built my own, but there are a number out there (I can't tell you which ones are good and which ones suck because the only one I've ever required has been my own.)

Google the phrase "Word to HTML Converter", find a few products that you'd be interested in, then ask others if they've had experience with them.

**serandfae** · 10-28-2007, 12:02 AM

You mentioned that some of the documents your client gives you are .pdf files. Why not convince the client to do all of them as pdfs and just link to them? No cutting, no pasting, no coding, just include the latest link to the reader. Now, if there's other styling involved that makes it worth it to recode, that's another story.

**Ken Rogers** · 10-28-2007, 12:58 AM

Thanks everyone for the replies. I'll try the "Word to HTML Converter", otherwise I'll just create direct links.

PS: ADAM Web Design, I recognize that panda from Southpark. Nice avatar!