Collect HTML is an XTension that allows you to convert text from Quark pages into HTML format. Styles can be converted into HTML pre- and suffixes. Collect is not well suited to convert complete Quark pages; it better suited to 'clip' articles from large pages (e.g. a newspaper) for Web publication.
HTML is not as rich in features as Quark is, so do not expect a WYSIWIG behaviour. Collect just tries to help you to create good-looking HTML documents from Quark pages.
The demo version is crippled: it exports the texts in a mangled way, by exchanging some words at random; this results in readable, but unusable HTML documents.
Before starting to use Collect, you must first configure it. You can set up HTML prefixes and suffixes in order to translate Quark attributes, and to set up other manipulations.
The default settings are:
- bold gets translated into <B>...</B>.
- italic into <I>...</I>.
- underline into <U>...</U>.
- a paragraph mark is translated into a space to avoid getting ugly short lines when viewing the resulting page.
- a style change results in the insertion of a <BR>.
- nothing is inserted between texts from different text boxes.
- styles are not pre- or suffixed.
You have to set up translations for the styles you used. This is done by clicking in a text with a certain style, and then using the 'HTML Style settings...' menu option. You can then type the prefix and suffix for this style.
Tip: when a style is used for a title, use <H1> and </H1>. For sub-titles, use <H2> and </H2>, and so on.
Tip: when a style stands out from the others, use <B> and </B>, or <EM> and </EM> to make it stand out.
Once the extension is set up, you can start collecting and exporting text. The idea is to click in the boxes that compose the article you want to export, and for each box, you press Command-7 (or select 'Add box' from the menu). When all boxes of a single article are collected this way, you press Command-8 (or select 'End Collection' from the menu). This creates an HTML file in the destination directory. The name of the file is a unique name, derived from the name of the original Quark page.
Tip: When collecting text in linked text boxes, you only need to collect one of the boxes; the other boxes are included automatically.
Attention: the settings for Collect are saved within the XTension. This allows you to set up the XTension once, and then to distribute a single file with settings included within your company; there are no separate settings documents.
Tip: To see the list of definitions that are already present in the XTension, you have to create a new, empty text box on the page you are viewing. Then choose 'Insert style translation table' from the menu. The text box will be filled with the current settings. Every line in the text box takes over the style it is named after, so you can click on one of the lines and use 'HTML Style settings...' to change a style's setting.
This only works for styles that are available in the current document.
Tip: There are also two pseudo-HTML commands: <DROP> and </DROP>. Styles that use these as prefix or suffix are not exported, but dropped. Attention: DROP is not a real HTML command! It is processed by the XTension. Also, be careful not to include spaces around <DROP> or </DROP> when setting up a style to be dropped.
Versions in languages other than English are possible; for example a Swedish version is already available. Collect HTML is written by Kris Coppieters and is a product of
