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Thread: Word to HTML Conversion

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From: cfrench_us
Date: Mon, Aug 09 2004 5:08PM
Subject: Word to HTML Conversion
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body { margin: 5px;
font-size:10pt;
font-family:"Arial";
color: black;
scrollbar-base-color: #d4d4d4;
scrollbar-arrow-color: #020202;
scrollbar-darkshadow-color: #4f4f4f;
scrollbar-face-color: #c2c2c2;
scrollbar-highlight-color: #ececec;
scrollbar-shadow-color: #878787;
scrollbar-track-color: #d4d4d4;}
ol { margin-top: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;}
ul { margin-top: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;}
blockquote { margin-top: 5px;
margin-bottom: 5px;}

Can anyone recommend a good tool to convert Word docs to HTML that is
508 compliant.

Clark

<A
href="mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ">

From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Tue, Aug 10 2004 1:23AM
Subject: Re: Word to HTML Conversion
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On Mon, 9 Aug 2004, cfrench_us wrote:

> Can anyone recommend a good tool to convert Word docs to HTML that is
> 508 compliant.

Microsoft Word. :-) You need human brain, too, though - with some
understanding of the problems that accessibility guidelines try to
address.

If you use a new enough Word, it has (in the File/Save As dialogue)
a "Compact HTML" or "Filtered HTML" format, which means that Word produces
much simpler markup. For old versions of Word, you can download add-on
software from the Microsoft site, creating similar functionality as
"Export to Compact HTML" option in the File menu.

Then you can use any simple editor to remove the style sheet that Word has
created into the Compact HTML format - a style sheet that tries to
preserve the exact visual formatting that the author used when composing
the document (this is virtually the opposite of what we are trying to
achieve in accessibility!). Then test the HTML file and start applying
usual accessibility checks and fixes. If you only aim at 508 compliance,
you can use e.g. the checklist
http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/checklist
Note that checklists tend to be very general; they contain a lot of things
that is not relevant to documents converted from Word format. The key
things to note are, in my opinion, items (a) (make sure all images have
alt texts that work as substitutes for the images e.g. in speech
presentation, (c) (sometimes Word-generated documents use color as the
only means of conveying some information - try to fix this by adding
suitable markup), (d) (test the generated HTML _before_ adding any styling
of your own; add markup for headings, emphasis, etc., if needed),
(g) and (h) (add identifying markup if you have tables).

A note on accessibility that goes beyond the lame 508 regulation and is
crucial to billions of potential users: check the language (cf. to WAI
guideline 14: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/#gl-facilitate-comprehension ).
Since Word has good checking tools, they should be deployed before the
conversion from Word to HTML format. (Word can read HTML documents, but
when doing so it loses much of the accessibility improvements you've
made!)

I have noticed that when Word issues a message about a potential
misspelling or grammar error, it is usually right even when it is wrong.
That is, if the message is based on a wrong analysis of the text, then
this indicates that the text is ambiguous, easy to misunderstand, or just
too complex to many human readers as well - especially to people with
cognitive disabilities or limited skills in the language in question.
So even if you don't do all the fixes that Word suggests, you should
consider whether the text needs reformulation whenever Word complains
something.

--
Jukka "Yucca" Korpela, http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/

From: Eoin Campbell
Date: Tue, Aug 10 2004 2:39AM
Subject: Re: Word to HTML Conversion
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Ahem,

We sell a Word plug-in called YAWC Pro (www.yawcpro.com)
which converts Word documents to WAI-accessible HTML.
We also have an online conversion service, YAWC Online
(www.yawconline.com).

These tools depend on the Word document being styled properly
before conversion though. This means applying styles such
as Heading 1, Heading 2, List Bullet, etc. in an appropriate
way.

Contact me if you want more information.
An evaluation copy of YAWC Pro is available for download,
and you can try out YAWC Online online (not surprisingly!).

At 09:00 10/08/2004, Clark wrote:
>Can anyone recommend a good tool to convert Word docs to HTML that is
>508 compliant.

--
Eoin Campbell, Technical Director, XML Workshop Ltd.
10 Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harolds Cross, Dublin, Ireland.
Phone: +353 1 4547811; fax: +353 1 4496299.
Email: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = ; web: www.xmlw.ie
YAWC: One-click web publishing from Word!
YAWC Pro: www.yawcpro.com
YAWC Online: www.yawconline.com

From: julian.rickards
Date: Tue, Aug 10 2004 7:04AM
Subject: Re: Word to HTML Conversion
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BODY {
SCROLLBAR-FACE-COLOR: #c2c2c2; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; MARGIN: 5px; SCROLLBAR-HIGHLIGHT-COLOR: #ececec; SCROLLBAR-SHADOW-COLOR: #878787; COLOR: black; SCROLLBAR-ARROW-COLOR: #020202; SCROLLBAR-TRACK-COLOR: #d4d4d4; FONT-FAMILY: "Arial"; SCROLLBAR-DARKSHADOW-COLOR: #4f4f4f; SCROLLBAR-BASE-COLOR: #d4d4d4
}
OL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
UL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
BLOCKQUOTE {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}

There are a number of
tools that will allow you to do that including OpenOffice in which you can open
your Word doc and save it in OO's native file format which is in fact XML.
However, whatever tool you may use, the compliancy with 508 is only as good as
the source document, Word. If you don't use headings or your color combinations
make text "invisible" to the color blind or if your images do not have alternate
text, then you haven't complied with 508. I went through a similar process in
which I had hoped to post XML documents (converted from Word) on our web site
without having to do an accessibility check but when I realized that compliancy
must be in the original source document before conversion to XML, then, for me,
this process of converting to XML did not help me.

HTH,

Jules
-----------------------------------------------
Julian Rickards A/Digitial Publications Distribution
Coordinator Publication Services
Section, Ministry of Northern
Development and Mines, Vox:
705-670-5608 / Fax: 705-670-5960

From: Jon Gunderson
Date: Tue, Aug 10 2004 8:54AM
Subject: Re: Word to HTML Conversion
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The Accessible Web Publishing Wizard 2.0 for Microsoft Office
provides a means to create Section 508 and WCAG Double-A
conformance HTML+CSS versions of Office documents including
Word. It is a plug-in to Office and provides an alternative
to the "Save to Web" feature in the FILE menu of Word.

Example Word conversion:
http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/software/office/example.html

More information on the Wizard:
http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/software/office/index.html

Please contact me directly if you have any questions.

Jon

Jon Gunderson, Ph.D., ATP
Coordinator of Assistive Communication and Information Technology
Division of Rehabilitation - Education Services
MC-574
College of Applied Life Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign
1207 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820

Voice: (217) 244-5870
Fax: (217) 333-0248

E-mail: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =

WWW: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/
WWW: http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~jongund