HTML+ XTND Translator takes advantages of Claris's XTND technology just like another XTND translator here, XTND HTML Translator. Consequently, you must have the XTND Translator software previously installed on your Macintosh before this utility will work. Your most like have this software if you have purchased some sort of Claris product like MacWrite Pro, Claris Works, FileMaker Pro, or even AppleSearch.
Written by Leonard Rosenthol, the author of numerous Macintosh applications, this translator works as advertised. To use the translator you first put it in the Claris Translator folder of your Claris folder of your System folder. Then, using your XTND-compatible word processor like MacWrite Pro, Claris Works, BBEdit, or WordPerfect you begin creating writing your document. Like most of the tools described here, it really behooves you complete your document first, and then mark it up.
To add markup tags you must format your document with particular characteristics. Specifically, you to create headers you must change the size of your text from 24-14 points. To create the various types of lists (ordered, unordered, menu, definition, and directory) you simply change the color of your text (red, blue, green, magenta, and cyan). You can also use bold, italics, and underlined text become STRONG, CITATION, and EMPHASIS markup tags. A particularly nice feature of this translator is that is automatically converts extended characters into their marked-up equivalents. For example, when you type an option-a (å), HTML+ XTND Translator automatically maps this this to å.
You can also add pictures to your document, then, when you save your document through the XTND translator, it extracts your pictures and automatically saves them as PICT files. To facilitate the completion of you HTML, HTML+ XTND Translator comes with an accompanying utility that converts double line break symbols (<br>) into paragraph marks (<p>). It also uses clip2gif to convert the extracted PICT files into gif files. Thus, after writing your document you can simply put all the necessary documents where you want them on your server.
The translator works, but it is not complete. I affords no way of creating links to other documents, nor things like tables. It does not support translation from HTML into your XTND-compatible word processor; in other words, it only does export and not import. On the other hand, it does what it says it can do and it does it well.
Incidentally, in the Tricks archive there is a MacWrite Pro stationary file that has been configured to used the markup option supported by HTML+ XTND Translator. To use it, download the file (INSERT URL HERE) and choose the markup options from the Style's Character menu. This way you don't have to remember what HTML+ XTND Translator supports.
Eric last edited this page on September 26, 1995. Please feel free to send comments.