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70 <h2 itemprop="name" class="asset-name entry-title">Why MS Word is a bad HTML editor</h2>
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73 <li class="asset-meta-list-item">Posted on <time datetime="2007-04-21T20:56:37-08:00" itemprop="datePublished">April 21, 2007</time></li>
74 <li class="asset-meta-list-item">by <span class="author entry-author vcard"></span></li>
77 <li class="asset-meta-list-item">in <a itemprop="articleSection" rel="tag" href="http://defaria.com/blogs/Status/texas-instruments/">Texas Instruments</a></li>
83 <div class="entry-content asset-content" itemprop="articleBody">
85 <li>Described a little bit about why MS Word is not a good HTML editor</li>
87 <p>LeGrand, Christina wrote:</p>
89 <blockquote type=cite>
90 <p>Larry, thanks for the great feedback! I have made the last three changes listed here - to the wording in the "Just the FAQs" section, the "ITS
91 in the Customer Success Story, and the URL in the LDM docs section. Great catches! For the first two suggestions, all secondary titles are Arial 11, so I am not sure why they look different in your Outlook, but I believe you that they do. If anyone knows of how to prevent this, please let me know!</p>
94 The proper way to "prevent" such things is to use the proper way to do
95 such things. To do this one should follow the standards and then
96 validate (as Regan said to Gorbachev "<a
97 href="http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/ronaldreag147717.html">Trust
100 HTML headers should be done with the "H" tags of which there are H1 -
101 H6. IOW one should not be putting any kinds of font information such as
102 Arial nor point size in there. Such presentation information is best
103 left to the eventual reader, who may not have the font you've chosen
104 nor want Wingbats in Pink at 24 point! <br>
106 However if you must code in a layout that's what CSS is for.<br>
108 In any event Word, which this was made with, is an absolutely horrible
109 HTML editor! And I shall now show you some of the reasons why. I hope
110 you'll enjoy this ride as much as I will...<br>
112 First off MS Word created HTML pages contain a lot of bloat. What Word
113 does is include styling information at the beginning of the document to
114 cover MS Word "styles" then applies "styles" to the layout. This is
115 done, AFAICT, to attempt to get the web page to look "just like it did
116 in Word". In a sentence - It's bad web design and bloat to your web
117 pages let alone often non-standard and should be avoided at all costs.<br>
119 Here is the beginning bloat:<br>
121 <pre id="line165"><html xmlns:v=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" =
122 xmlns:o=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" =
123 xmlns:w=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" =
124 xmlns:st1=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" =
125 xmlns=3D<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">"http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"</a>>
129 <meta http-equiv=3DContent-Type content=3D"text/html; =
130 charset=3Dus-ascii">
131 <meta name=3DProgId content=3DWord.Document>
132 <meta name=3DGenerator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11">
133 <meta name=3DOriginator content=3D"Microsoft Word 11">
134 <link rel=3DFile-List href=3D<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="cid:filelist.xml@01C78350.D624B260">"cid:filelist.xml@01C78350.D624B260"</a>>
135 <link rel=3DEdit-Time-Data href=3D<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="cid:editdata.mso">"cid:editdata.mso"</a>>
139 v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
140 o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
141 w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
142 .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);}
144 <pre id="line238"></style>
145 <![endif]--><o:SmartTagType
146 namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" =
149 namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
150 name=3D"PlaceType"/>
152 namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
153 name=3D"PlaceName"/>
155 namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
159 namespaceuri=3D"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags"
160 name=3D"PersonName"/>
161 <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
162 <o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
163 <o:DoNotRelyOnCSS/>
164 </o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
165 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
166 <w:WordDocument>
167 <w:SpellingState>Clean</w:SpellingState>
168 <w:DocumentKind>DocumentEmail</w:DocumentKind>
169 <w:EnvelopeVis/>
170 <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
171 <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
172 <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
173 <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
174 <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
175 </w:WordDocument>
177 <pre id="line269"></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
178 <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState=3D"false" LatentStyleCount=3D"156">
179 </w:LatentStyles>
181 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]>
183 st1\:*{behavior:url(#default#ieooui) }
188 /* Font Definitions */
191 panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;
192 mso-font-alt:Verdana;
194 mso-generic-font-family:swiss;
195 mso-font-pitch:variable;
196 mso-font-signature:1627421319 -2147483648 8 0 66047 0;}
197 /* Style Definitions */
198 p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
199 {mso-style-parent:"";
201 margin-bottom:.0001pt;
202 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
204 font-family:"Times New Roman";
205 mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
207 a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
209 text-decoration:underline;
210 text-underline:single;}
211 a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
213 text-decoration:underline;
214 text-underline:single;}
216 {mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
218 mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
220 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
222 font-family:"Times New Roman";
223 mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
225 p.newslettertitle, li.newslettertitle, div.newslettertitle
226 {mso-style-name:newslettertitle;
227 mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
229 mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
231 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
233 font-family:"Times New Roman";
234 mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
236 p.newslettertext, li.newslettertext, div.newslettertext
237 {mso-style-name:newslettertext;
238 mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
240 mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
242 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
244 font-family:"Times New Roman";
245 mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
247 p.newsletterheading, li.newsletterheading, div.newsletterheading
248 {mso-style-name:newsletterheading;
249 mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
251 mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
253 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
255 font-family:"Times New Roman";
256 mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
258 p.newsletterbullet, li.newsletterbullet, div.newsletterbullet
259 {mso-style-name:newsletterbullet;
260 mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
262 mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
264 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
266 font-family:"Times New Roman";
267 mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
270 {mso-style-type:personal;
271 mso-style-noshow:yes;
272 mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
273 mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
275 mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
276 mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
277 mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;}
279 {mso-style-type:personal;
280 mso-style-noshow:yes;
281 mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
282 mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
284 mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
285 mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
286 mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
289 {mso-style-type:personal;
290 mso-style-noshow:yes;
291 mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
292 mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
294 mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
295 mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
296 mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
299 {mso-style-type:personal-reply;
300 mso-style-noshow:yes;
301 mso-ansi-font-size:10.0pt;
302 mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;
304 mso-ascii-font-family:Arial;
305 mso-hansi-font-family:Arial;
306 mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;
313 margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in;
314 mso-header-margin:.5in;
315 mso-footer-margin:.5in;
322 <!--[if gte mso 10]>
324 /* Style Definitions */=20
326 {mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
327 mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
328 mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
329 mso-style-noshow:yes;
331 mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
333 mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
334 mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
336 font-family:"Times New Roman";
337 mso-ansi-language:#0400;
338 mso-fareast-language:#0400;
339 mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
341 <pre id="line430"></style>
342 <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
343 <o:shapedefaults v:ext=3D"edit" spidmax=3D"1026" />
344 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
345 <o:shapelayout v:ext=3D"edit">
346 <o:idmap v:ext=3D"edit" data=3D"1" />
347 </o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]-->
352 Now wasn't that fun? <span class="moz-smiley-s1"><span> :-) </span></span><br>
354 After creating all that crud we are now able to apply it to our
355 content. Here's the part that does the heading:<br>
356 <blockquote><tt> <p class=3Dnewsletterheading =<br>
357 style=3D'mso-margin-top-alt:0in;margin-right:<br>
358 0in;margin-bottom:4.0pt;margin-left:0in'><span =<br>
359 style=3D'mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK1'><span<br>
360 style=3D'mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK10'><span =<br>
361 style=3D'mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK11'><span<br>
362 style=3D'mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK12'><span =<br>
363 style=3D'mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK2'><span<br>
364 style=3D'mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK3'><strong><b><font
367 face=3DArial><span =<br>
368 style=3D'font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;mso-bidi-font-style:<br>
369 italic'>DesignSync Documentation Has
370 Moved</span></font><span<br>
372 style=3D'mso-bidi-font-style:italic'><o:p></o:p></span></b></strong></spa=<br>
373 n></span></span></span></span></span></p><br>
375 OK, not you tell me - where's the Arial 11 point in there?<br>
378 I'm sure you've enjoyed the above exercise...<br>
380 Oh, and how does this look in "straight" HTML?<br>
381 <blockquote><tt><h2>DesignSync Documentation Has Moved</h2></tt><br>
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