Converting Pub 2007 to html

[Ronald Laffey]

I have been editing a newsletter since 2000 and started with Pub 2000.
After a while, I learned how to transform the newsletter into .html
rather than starting from scratch with an .html program. With certain
practices, pages became nothing but .jpegs and .gifs in the .html
version, and therefore there were no variations shown depending on what
browser was used and how they were set. Perfect.

Now I have Pub 2007 (it is fantastic!) but cannot convert to .html the
same way. At least I do not know how. I cannot open each page
separately and work on them in my .html program. The only way I have
been able to do it is save as PUB2000 and then go on as I did.

Can Pub 2007 save to .html the way Pub 2000 did?

Thanks!

 

[DavidF]

No. There are big differences in how Pub 2000 works and 2003 and 2007 works.
And, it sounds like you are not using 2000 correctly either. I am not sure
where to start....there is no quick answer.

First of all, in Pub 2000, you probably overlapped text with images, and
perhaps used word wrap in your newsletter. Pub 2000 will then convert the
original image and the text into a new combined low resolution image, and
you end up with blurry text that a search engine cannot index, because it
can't read the text anymore. So, your "certain practices" resulted in
nothing but images because you overlapped design elements, maybe used non
web friendly fonts, and other "practices". But at least you ended up with a
page of images that rendered more or less the same in all browsers. And by
the way, word wrap does not work in 2003 or 2007. If you had used Pub 2000
properly, the web pages would be cross browser compatible without converting
everything to images.

The other major faux pas you have been doing, is editing the html files.
Publisher is not a html editor. All changes should be made in the original
Publisher document, and then your produce new html files...not edit the old
ones.

When Pub 2002 was introduced, MSFT went a whole different direction and
introduced a new html coding engine. By the time 2003 came out, and
especially 2007, this coding engine had been tweaked a bit and it works
pretty well now, but personally I still prefer 2000. In Pub 2000 you did a
Save As a web page to produce your web pages. You now should do a "Publish
to the Web" to produce the pages. Pub 2000 automatically reduced any
oversized images and outputted 96 dpi versions...Pub 2007 does not...you
need to compress them before. Pub 2007 does allow you to layer images over
other design elements without converting everything to a single image. Pub
2007 uses by default uses a subfolder to contain the supporting graphics and
all the .htm files other than your home page...Pub 2000 does not. Pub 2000
names its home page with a .html extension...Pub 2003 and 2007 uses .htm....

There are lots of differences, and no time to list them here, so I will give
you some references to read. After reading these, try making your changes in
the Pub document, not the html files. And before you Publish to the Web and
create the new pages, go to Tools > Options > Web tab and uncheck "allow
png..." if you are using Pub 2007.

Web Publication Changes Made in Version 2002 of Publisher:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/81262.aspx

Publisher 2003 - What's new in web design for this version
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/pages/80555.aspx

Prepare, publish, and maintain your Publisher Web site:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA100947601033.aspx
It is written for Pub 2007, but if you are using IE7 instead of IE6, then
the directions for using Vista would apply. FTP uploading has changed with
the introduction of IE7.

Reference: Compress graphics file sizes to create smaller Publisher Web
pages:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011266301033.aspx

If you don't have an original Pub file to open in 2007, then there is a way
of reproducing the pub file from the html files if necessary...

Read all of these articles, and if you still have problems post back. Pub
2007 does have some advantages over Pub 2000...you just need to know how to
use the program properly and the differences in the versions.

DavidF

 

[Ronald Laffey]

Thank you very much, David. If you would like to check them out,
http://www.coralridgeassociation.org/Newletters.html is where they are.

The last one was created in 2007, but saved as 2000 and converted. It
was messy, not as good, but it worked. The previous ones were created
in 2000 and went through smoothly.

Anyway, I will look into the "proper way."

Ron

 

[DavidF]

Ron,

I hope I didn't come off as too judgmental, as there is no one way to do
things, and thus the choice of "proper" was probably not proper ;-) What
ever works... Just familiarize yourself with the differences in the
different programs and choose your own path.

I will point out another difference between 2000 and 2007...you won't be
able to center the content like you can in Pub 2000.

DavidF