WordWebNav (WWN):
Convert MS-Word Documents into Usable Webpages
Docs and source-code
● System requirements, installation, and compatibility
● Source code, on GitHub (also docs, in Word format)
● Enhancing WWN (for programmers)
Overview
WordWebNav (WWN) is an app that converts a Microsoft Word document into a usable webpage.
WWN is free and open-source.
The present webpage was created from a Word document using WWN.
WWN's webpage features are described in the screenshots below. The features include:
● A document-text pane, with adjustable width, and support for user comments at the bottom
● A navigation pane, with hyperlinks to the headings in the document-text pane
● A header-bar for site navigation, e.g., breadcrumbs
● Fixes for common bugs in Word's HTML, such as:
o Word-HTML's paragraphs span the browser's entire width, and it makes the paragraphs difficult to read.
o Word-HTML's multi-level lists are misformatted.
WWN has been reviewed positively on Hack A Day.
Screenshots
● WWN webpage components
Note the splitter-bar can be dragged to the left or right (as on the present webpage).
● The comments section, at the bottom of the document-text pane (Commento is used here)
Examples
● A demo WWN-webpage was created from a Word document with features typically used in technical writing.
● The WWN author's website is created from Word documents and their WWN webpages.
Description
Word is a powerful tool for recording technical info. Word can save a document in HTML format, however, for the webpage to be usable, additional features are needed, as well as fixes for bugs in Word's HTML.
WWN can be used to create a personal website from Word documents. The WWN-webpage’s user interface is simple, and it provides the features needed for navigation and comments. And, of course, WWN webpages can be used on any website, not just a personal website.
WWN is relatively easy to use. First, a copy of the Word document is saved in Word’s HTML format. Next, the user creates a parameter-file to specify the WWN webpage's files, header-bar, etc. WWN is then run to generate the WWN webpage.
WWN’s documentation is listed above.
Quality and support
WWN was created by a software professional, with over 25 years of R&D experience. Background research was performed to investigate Word's HTML limitations and bugs, and to survey alternative solutions. The program code is heavily commented, to aid future development. Extensive testing was performed, including unit and function tests. System tests were performed using a variety of technical Word-docs, downloaded from the Internet. The created webpages were tested on the major desktop browsers and OSes. The end-user documentation is intended to be complete and easy to use.
The WWN author uses WWN to construct his personal website. He plans to fix the bugs
he finds, and those reported by users, through 2024, and hopefully longer.
● Report bugs and ideas for improvement
Author
WWN is developed by Jim Yuill (https://jimyuill.com/).
Copyright (c) 2021-present by Jim Yuill, under the license at https://github.com/jimyuill/word-web-nav