Translating Your Word Processor file into HTML   Computer programs handle the translation from word processed files to HTML in different ways. Check your user manual first to see if your word processor will save directly to HTML as this is frequently the easiest way to translate files (let the computer do the work for you). For example, converting a document from Microsoft Word97 or higher into an HTML document is a simple "Save As" procedure. Look under your "File" menu and see if there is an option to "Save as HTML" or "Convert to HTML." If you have Office97, Office98, Office2000, or Microsoft Word97 or higher, saving your Word (or any MSOffice) documents as HTML is simple. Under the "File" menu in your Office application, choose "Save as HTML" and save your document as "filename.html" where filename is the name of your file. If your application won't save to directly into HTML, you still have have two choices. Choice One: Add HTML Tags The simplest choice is often to add HTML codes to your current document and save it as a text only document. With the additions of only a few tags, your document will be a web page in a matter of minutes. Follow the directions in the box below to turn any text document into a web page: 1. Save your document as a TEXT ONLY document. In most applications, this option is available by going to the "File" menu and selecting "Save As." In the window which then pops up, select "text only" from the "Save file as type" menu. 2. Give your file a name without any spaces or special characters as it will become an HTML document. After the filename, put the extension ".html" 3. After saving your document as text only, add HTML tags. as shown in the two pictures below: A text only document before HTML is added: A text only document after the HTML – shown here in green for clarity purposes only –is added. For more information on HTML, see our HTML module. 4. After your text only document has been "marked up" with HTML, save it again by going to the "File" menu and selecting "Save As." Save it using the same filename and with the .html extension at the end. 5. Open your HTML document as a web page in your web browser. The above page, marked up with HTML and saved as text only with the .html extension looks like this in a web browser:   Choice Two: Convert to HTML using an HTML Editor You can convert your word processing document to HTML by copying and pasting your text from your word processor into an HTML Editor such as Netscape Composer. For both Macintosh and Windows computers, the directions below will work to create a simple, HTML document using an HTML editor: 1. Open the file you want to convert to HTML in your word processing application. 2. Select (highlight with your mouse) the entire document. This can sometimes be done by selecting the "Select All" command under your "Edit" menu. 3. Leaving the text selected, go to your "Edit" menu and select "Copy." 4. Open Netscape. 5. In Netscape, under the "File" menu go to "New Document" and select "Blank." 6. Under the "Edit" menu, select "Paste." Note that Netscape may lose some of the formatting from your word processing document. To put that formatting back into your document, see Using an Editor to Create Web Pages for formatting tips. 7. Under the "File" menu, select "Save." Name your document "xxxxxx.html" where your file name is X. Do not use spaces in your filename, and all lowercase letters are recommended. Remember the name of this file, however, as this will be part of the address for your web page.   Moving your Page to the Web Congratulations – if your page opened in your browser, you created a web page from your file. Now, you need to publish that web page so others can see it out on the web. If you are an MSU student, faculty member, or have space on MSU's PILOT server, follow this link for FTP instructions to publish your new web page on the server and make it readable from the web. If you are not affiliated with MSU, follow this link for more generic instructions for saving your file to a web server. Copyright(c)1999; MATRIX: The Center for Humane Arts, Letters, and Social Science On-Line; All Rights Reserved.