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Friday - The Automatic FAQ Maker
More and more schools are putting class content on line.
That's great for the teachers and students, but it can be a real nightmare for the webmaster or instructional technology specialist charged with making it all happen.
Most often, you start with PowerPoint files supplied by instructors or students.
PowerPoint is a good tool for creating and organizing content, but it falls down on the job when it converts the content into HTML so you can put it on the intra-/internet.
The HTML output features change with every new version of PowerPoint; they're poorly documented and difficult to control.
If you want what Microsoft wants you to want, there's no problem, but what if you need cross-platform and cross-browser compatibility? ADA compliance/accessibility? Or even just a little control over what the resulting HTML looks and acts like?
Sorry. That's not where Microsoft wants you to go today and PowerPoint won't take you there.
Unless you have PPT2HML, that is
RnR PPT2HTML is a PowerPoint add-in that lets you put your PowerPoint presentations on the web quickly and efficiently. It gives you near-total control over the appearance of the converted web pages.
The PPT2HTMLBatch takes it a step further and automates the whole conversion process. You, your users or a server script drop PowerPoint files into a "watched" folder and PPT2HTMLBatch converts them per your specs.
| Feature | PowerPoint | PPT2HTML | PPT2HTMLBatch |
| Ease of use | PowerPoint's HTML: a confusing hodgepodge of options. Each version has different options, produces very different HTML. |
All options in one dialog or supplied in templates. Users choose a template, visit a single preferences dialog, then convert their files. Works identically in PowerPoint 97, 2000 and 2002/XP |
Administrator sets up all options and templates on a single computer. PPT2HTML Batch converts any PPT files that appear in a watched folder. |
| User training | Necessary, time-consuming and expensive. Users must be re-trained with each new version of PowerPoint. |
Minimal training needed. Users choose a template, pick options and PPT2HTML does the rest. Works identically in all supported versions of PowerPoint. No retraining needed when you upgrade Office. |
None required Users never see PPT2HTML. It's not even installed on their computers. They simply drop their PPT files into a watched folder. |
| ADA compliance e.g. accessibility to users with vision disabilities who must use assistive devices like screen readers |
PowerPoint 2000 and on: reliance on frames and graphical rather than text content makes HTML inaccessible. Many navigation features rely on JavaScript and break if the browser doesn't support it (or it's turned off in the browser). PowerPoint 97 saves a set of text-only web pages but user must know how to navigate to them from default graphical web page. You have no control over layout of these pages. |
Includes a text-only template that's been tested by a screen-reader user who found it perfectly usable/navigable. You'll find links to this and other example conversions on the Sample PPT2HTML Conversions page. You can edit this template to customize it to your own needs, a large-text version, for example. |
Same as PPT2HTML, but automatic. And you could automatically convert each presentation to both an accessible text-only and a visually oriented graphical version. |
| Cross-browser compatibility | Depends on PowerPoint version. Limited in later versions The more features you choose, the more MSIE-specific the resulting HTML becomes. |
Supplied templates are totally cross-browser compatible. If you and your HTML editor can make compatible HTML, PPT2HTML can use it as a template file and do the same. |
Same as regular PPT2HTML. |
To learn more about PPT2HMTL browse through the rest of the PPT2HTML FAQ
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