@@ -82,19 +82,24 @@ MS Word poses particular challenges: Although the content of a docx file may loo
The following is an excerpt taken from article written by Adam Hyde and Wendell Piez (the designers of Coko’s xSweet) on this approach:
“...attempts to ‘get out of Word’ have tried to jump from unstructured MS Word to very structured XML formats by:
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1. copying over all the data in the document and
2. interpolating structure at the same time in an attempt to ‘understand’ the ‘intent of the author’ (or a proxy) as represented by the display semantics of the document.
<p>“…attempts to ‘get out of Word’ have tried to jump from unstructured MS Word to very structured XML formats by:<p>
But if the structure does not exist in the first place, you have a problem. xSweet’s Word-to-HTML conversion retains step one (copying over all the data) and replaces step two (interpolating structure) with a process that forsakes the introduction of any structure in favor of carrying over whatever information from the original MS Word file might be useful later on, whether for programmatically understanding or manually applying document structure. The best solution of course, being a little bit of both. Hence we:
<ol>
<li>copying over all the data in the document and</li>
<li>interpolating structure at the same time in an attempt to ‘understand’ the ‘intent of the author’ (or a proxy) as represented by the display semantics of the document.</li>
</ol>
1. convert the unstructured MS Word document into an unstructured (or partially better structured) HTML document; and
2. interpret the original MS Word file and carry forward as much information as that original Word file contained for possible future use in interpreting the document structure – or representing any features of interest – while not actually structuring the document.
<p>But if the structure does not exist in the first place, you have a problem. xSweet’s Word-to-HTML conversion retains step one (copying over all the data) and replaces step two (interpolating structure) with a process that forsakes the introduction of any structure in favor of carrying over whatever information from the original MS Word file might be useful later on, whether for programmatically understanding or manually applying document structure. The best solution of course, being a little bit of both. Hence we:</p>
<ol>
Interestingly, since HTML does not require you to enforce a strict document structure if you do not have it, an unstructured document flows into HTML as easily as a structured, or partially structured, document flows into it. If your aim is a well-controlled document format, such a failure to enforce strict structures is regarded as a flaw or weakness. Yet, since we do not have much or any document structure in the originating Word document, and our goal is to improve it – HTML’s flexibility becomes a critical feature.”
This process produces an intermediary carrier format – an information-rich, sanitized HTML format that is suitable for improvement. A final step of the xSweet libraries further interprets the information carried over from the conversion which implies structural elements, applies that structure, and then converts the total output to a (configurable) target HTML profile. In an HTML editor, we can then bring to bear further tools (Wax, for example) for adding structure, reviewing, commenting, and revising.
<li>convert the unstructured MS Word document into an unstructured (or partially better structured) HTML document; and </li>
<li>interpret the original MS Word file and carry forward as much information as that original Word file contained for possible future use in interpreting the document structure – or representing any features of interest – while not actually structuring the document. </li>
</ol>
<p>Interestingly, since HTML does not require you to enforce a strict document structure if you do not have it, an unstructured document flows into HTML as easily as a structured, or partially structured, document flows into it. If your aim is a well-controlled document format, such a failure to enforce strict structures is regarded as a flaw or weakness. Yet, since we do not have much or any document structure in the originating Word document, and our goal is to improve it – HTML’s flexibility becomes a critical feature.” </p>
<p>This process produces an intermediary carrier format – an information-rich, sanitized HTML format that is suitable for improvement. A final step of the xSweet libraries further interprets the information carried over from the conversion which implies structural elements, applies that structure, and then converts the total output to a (configurable) target HTML profile. In an HTML editor, we can then bring to bear further tools (Wax, for example) for adding structure, reviewing, commenting, and revising. </p>
