HOW TO DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, and USE HTMLDOC v FOR WINDOWS

Transcription

1 HOW TO DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, and USE HTMLDOC v FOR WINDOWS Adobe portable document format (PDF) is the standard format for distribution of documents over the internet. Documents can not be written in PDF _ they are converted to PDF using any one of several commercial or freeware programs available in stores or over the internet. PDF is a universal file format that preserves the fonts, graphics, and formatting of the source document regardless of the program used to prepare it or the operating system under which it was produced. PDF format is compact, PDF files can be read or printed by anyone who has Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is provided free over the internet by Adobe Systems at their website However the standard commercial tools for converting documents PDF documents are expensive and difficult to use. There are several freeware tools available for converting text documents to PDF. However, most are limited in their capabilities, and can neither incorporate graphics or hypertext into the PDF documents they produce nor keep the formating of the source document. HTMLDOC is a freeware program distributed over the internet by Easy Software Products. It is capable of converting both internal and external HTML documents to PDF format. The documents produced can keep the format of the original document and include bookmarks, hyperlinks, and high quality graphics. The current version of the program, v , accepts input only from HTML documents, and does not support style sheets or advanced HTML 4.0 table elements and attributes (e.g. rules, THEAD, TFOOT, etc.). These drawbacks are minor, as there are a myriad of WYSWYG HTML editors available, all leading word processors (e.g. Microsoft Word or Power Point) can produce documents in HTML format, and perfectly fine tables can be produced without the unsupported features. The fact that the program is free, the ease of its use, and the quality of the output far outweigh the drawbacks. 1

2 This document takes you through the basic steps of downloading, installing, and using HTMLDOC. More complete documentation is available free at the Easy Software website: End users may subscribe to an HTMLDOC discussion group by sending e mail to majordomo@easysw.com with the text "subscribe HTMLDOC". End users who wish to get more personal or advanced support may purchase support for $495 per year from Easy Software Products at System Requirements HTMLDOC requires the following: Approximately 2 MB of disk space. Windows 95 or higher or Windows NT 4.0 or higher. Downloading and Installing To download the software do the following: 1. Go to the easysoft download page at 2. As shown in Figure 1 from the Software menu select "HTMLDOC v for Windows (Free Version). From the Location menu select the download site closest to you. 3. Click Download Software. 4. The file will be downloaded and saved as htmldoc 1_8_14 winfree.exe. 2

3 Figure 1. Downloading HTMLDOC for Windows. 4. Click the icon of the file you have just downloaded (It looks like this ) The computer will warn you that you have downloaded unsupported software with no warranty. Click OK. 5. Follow the directions of the Install Shield. Click Yes, OK, or NEXT as necessary. There is no need to change any of the default settings inherent in the program. The program will be installed in a directory (or folder) called C:\Program Files\HTMLDOC. The program file will be called ghtmldoc.exe. A shortcut to the program will be installed in your taskbar. 3

4 Using HTMLDOC When you activate the program you will see the user interface shown in Figure 2. This interface contains tabs along the top (Input, Output, Page, TOC, etc.), buttons along the right side and the bottom (add Files..., Add URL..., Browse..., Help, New, Open..., etc.), text boxes, two radio buttons, and a status bar (currently displaying HTMLDOC Ready) under the bottom row of buttons. The tabs open user interfaces for the functions of the program, the buttons start the actions which carry out these functions, the Input Files text box displays the names of the files chosen as input. The other text boxes allow you to manually specify input files. The radio buttons allow you to choose the type of input file, and the status bar lets you know what the program is actually doing. It will keep displaying "Ready" until you click the Generate button. Figure 2. Default HTMLDOC input user interface (annotations added). 4

5 Converting an HTML Document to PDF format This section will describe the basic procedure for saving an HTML document in PDF format using HTMLDOC: 1. On the Input user interface, click the Web Page radio button. 2. If you are converting a document from your computer, push the Add Files button to open the Add HTML Files? dialog box. The files you choose will appear in the Input Files: text box. If you are converting a document from the internet, push the Add URL button, and write the address of the URL in the space provided. Note that you must enter the URL manually you can't copy and paste it from the browser. If you wish, you may enter names of several documents. HTMLDOC will combine them all into one PDF document in the order in which they were listed in the text box. If you have listed a document you do not want converted, click it (it will be painted blue) and click the Delete Files button. If you wish to change the order in which the documents are converted, click a document (again, it will be painted blue) and click the Move Up or Move Down button until the documents appear in the desired order. 3. Click the Output tab. The output user interface will be displayed. 4. Enter the name of the output file into the Output Path: text box, or using the Browse... button next to the text box. 5. Click the PDF radio box in the Output Format: line. 6. If there are color pictures text in the file which you wish to be converted to black and white, click the Grayscale check box in the Output Options: line. 7. Click the PDF tag. The PDF user interface will be displayed. 8. On the PDF interface, select the version of Adobe Acrobat Reader which will be used to view the output file. If you don't know or aren't sure, leave the default. 5

6 9. On the PDF tag, click the Include Links and Use True Type Fonts check boxes. This will ensure that your output document has all the active hypertext links in the original, and that the fonts used in the original are preserved in the output. If you wish to add a title page to your document, click the Title Page check box and see the instructions in the "Adding a title page" section below. 10. If there are large JPEG illustrations in your document, click the JPEG Big Images check box. The JPEG Quality will be activated (its color will turn from barely visible gray to black). Use the mouse to change the value on the slide. It is a good idea not to change the default value (90) unless you are an advanced user with specific needs regarding the quality of the images. Note: Most HTML files use GIF format for images. Check the format of the images in the document before using this option. 11. To customize your document, see the "additional features" section below before going on to the next step. 12. Click the Generate tag. The text in the status bar will display the various steps of the conversion. If all goes well, you should see the following message: Figure 3. What you will see if everything goes right. If there are errors in generating the PDF file, you will see the following message: 6

7 Figure 4. What you will see if something goes wrong. Errors can be generated for a number of reasons: errors in the HTML code, a link to a non existent document, etc. Click the Yes button on the error message to see what is wrong, fix the problem, and try again. Additional Features HTMLDOC has several advanced features which allow you to control a variety of aspects in your output. For example: Adding an illustrated title page. Adding a logo or other illustration to the header or footer of the pages. Adding bookmarks and a hypertext table of contents Controlling the font size and the spacing of the output text. Adding a title page. To add a title page to your document, do the following: 1. Click the Output tab. 2. On the Output user interface, click the Title Page check box. HTMLDOC will add a title page using the title appearing on your HTML document. 3. If you wish to add a picture or more detailed title page, enter the path of the image or HTML file you wish to appear on the title page in the Title File/Image text box on the input user interface (see Figure 2 above). Note: Adding a title page will not change the page numbers of your document. The title page will be numbered "i", 7

8 your document will still start from page one. Adding an image to the header or footer of your document. To add an image to the header or footer of your document pages, do the following: 1. Click the Page tab. The Page user interface will be displayed. 2. On the page user interface you will see two rows of buttons for the Header and the Footer. Each of these rows contains three buttons. The left buttons represent text or image which will appear on the left side of the header / footer, the middle buttons represent that which will appear in the middle, and the right buttons that which will appear on the right. For example, Figure 5 shows the page user interface configured to have the running title appear on the left side of the header, a logo on the right side, and the page number centered on the footer. 3. Click the button which represents the position in the header or footer which you want to format. Do not let go of the mouse button. A drop down list of possibilities will appear. 4. Without letting go of the mouse button, scroll up or down the list until what you want is colored blue. 5. Let go of the mouse button. The option you have chosen should appear on the button you have just released. 6. Repeat the above steps until all six buttons are formatted the way you want. For example, if you want no headers or footers, all six buttons should read Blank. 7. If you chose Logo in any of the above steps, do the following: i. Click the Input tab. You will see the Input user interface. ii. Enter the path of the image in the Logo Image text box. 8

9 Figure 5. The Page user interface showing the header set to display the running title on the left and a logo on the right, and the page number to be displayed centered on the footer. Adding bookmarks and a hypertext table of contents (TOC) to your document. HTMLDOC allows you to add bookmarks and a TOC to your document. To do this, follow this procedure: 1. On the Input user interface, click the Book radio button. 2. Follow steps two through eleven in the "Converting an HTML Document to PDF format" section above. 3. Click the TOC tab. The TOC user interface will be displayed. As shown in Figure 6, you will see that the default is to include first, second, and third level headings in the TOC. HTMLDOC allows you to include up to fourth level headings in the TOC. To change the default, do the following: i. Click the button which represents the position in the header or footer which you want to format. Do not let go of the mouse button. A drop down list of possibilities will 9

10 appear. ii. Without letting go of the mouse button, scroll up or down the list until what you want is colored blue. iii. Let go of the mouse button. The option you have chosen should appear on the button you have just released. 4. If you wish the TOC to be numbered, click the Numbered Headings check box. 5. If you wish to change the default settings for the header or footer of the TOC, follow steps two to six in the "Adding an image to the header or footer of your document" section above. Note: All items in the TOC will automatically appear as bookmarks when the document is viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Figure 6. Default TOC user interface. Controlling the font size and the spacing of the output text. In many situations 10

11 it may be necessary that documents be double spaced and written in 12 point text using the times new font. Figure 7 shows the Fonts user interface configured to produce output formatted in this way.to assure that your output conforms to these standards, do the following: 1. Click the Fonts tab. The Fonts user interface will be displayed. 2. Set the Base Font Size to Set the Line Spacing to Set the Body typeface to Times. Note: To use Times new in the output, the font must be used somewhere in the input document. You can make this so using any standard HTML editor. Figure 7. The Font user interface configured to produce double spaced, 12 point Times New text. 11

12 End Note This document is intended for use by persons with at least a basic knowledge of HTML and of the machinations of the internet who want or need to produce high quality PDF files but can't afford the expensive commercial software available (myself for example). The original of this document was written in "straight" HTML and converted to PDF using the HTMLDOC software described herein. There are two drawbacks of HTML which this program can not fix. The first is the near impossibility of producing indentations without the use of style sheets (which are not currently supported by HTMLDOC. I am eternally grateful to Mark Levinson of Herzilia, Israel for showing me the proper method of producing paragraph indentations in the original HTML. The second drawback is the total impossibility of double spacing text without using style sheets. For this reason HTMLDOC converts all text to double spaced, and there is no possibility to have some of the text (e.g. list items) single spaced. Hopefully this problem will be corrected in subsequent versions of the program. 12