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Features

From LaTeX to HTML

The translation of a LaTeX source file into HTML consists of loading the style package tex4ht.sty into the source file, choosing the desirable options for the translation, compiling the source into dvi code with the native LaTeX engine, and postprocessing the outcome with the programs tex4ht and t4ht (see overview).

The htlatex command loads a script which takes on itself to invoke the different steps of the process without user intervention. The command assumes the form

where the first set of options is for the tex4ht.sty package, the second option is for the tex4ht postprocessor, and the third set for the t4ht postprocessor. If not empty, the second option should be a path from the root directory ht-fonts of the hypertext fonts to a subdirectory. For instance,

htlatex foo

This command requests a translation according to the default conditions, which are set to produce HTML transtional 4.0 code.

htlatex foo "html"

This command is equivalent to the previous one, specifying explicitly the option html for tex4ht.sty instead of doing so implicitly.

htlatex foo "html,html.4ht,picmath4.4ht"

This command is equivalent to the previous two commands, explicitly requesting the files where the configurations for HTML 4.0 are defined.

htlatex foo "xhtml"

This command requests XHTML output.

htlatex foo "html,3.2"

This command requests output in HTML 3.2 format.

htlatex foo "html" "symbol/!"

This command asks tex4ht to use the SYMBOL font for special symbols.

htlatex foo "xhtml,html4.4ht,mathml.4ht,unicode.4ht" "unicode/!"

This command asks tex4ht.sty to employ the listed 4ht configuration files, ant tex4ht to use unicode fonts.

htlatex foo "html" "" "-p"

This command asks t4ht not to produce bitmaps for pictures.

An Alternative Script

       \documentclass{article}
          \usepackage{tex4ht}
       \begin{document}
          ..................
       \end{document}

       \documentclass{article}
          \usepackage[html,3.2]{tex4ht}
       \begin{document}
          ..................
       \end{document}

The first package parameter is distinguished in that it may refer to `html', to `xhtml', or to a user-provided configuration file; other values are ignored. An extension `cfg' is assumed, if the file name is provided without an extension.

       \documentclass{article}
          \usepackage[myconfig,html,3.2]{tex4ht}
       \begin{document}
          ..................
       \end{document}

More on `htlatex'

Given a LaTeX file

       \documentclass{article}
       \begin{document}
          ..................
       \end{document}

       \documentclass{article}
          \usepackage{tex4ht}
       \begin{document}
          ..................
       \end{document}

       \documentclass{article}
          \usepackage[options]{tex4ht}
       \begin{document}
          ..................
       \end{document}

Recommendations

Most applications might require the knowledge of just a few additional simple features of TeX4ht, if any. Hence, it is strongly advised to check the output obtained from the default configuration, before trying to work with other settings.

The remainder of this document provides much more than that, with an eye directed toward users that want to customize their outcome. Therefore, the reader is encouraged to skim the information provided below for acquiring a general understanding of the system, leaving the tedious learning of the details to when the need arises.

To keep with the spirit of LaTeX and hypertext, in which style is assumed to be separated from content, the users are encouraged to avoid inserting TeX4ht code into their source files. Instead, they should place their modifications, to the default settings, within configuration files to be loaded by the \usepackage{tex4ht} command.

Low-Level Features

The following are some of the more useful underlying commands of TeX4ht.

Sectioning and Tables of Contents

A non-leading package parameter `1', `2', `3', or `4', in \usepackage, asks for a tree-structured set of files, reflecting on the sectioning of the document to the specified depth. Sequential prev-next links within the hierarchy, instead of the default hierarchical ones, can be requested with the `next' parameter. The parameter `sections+' creates titles for the sectioning commands that link to the tables of contents.

Finer control is possible with the following commands.

Tables

HTML 4.0 offers new opportunities for tables. The following "large example, illustrating most of the features" of tabular and array environments, taken from the LaTeX User’s Guide, shows some of the current capabilities and limitations TeX4ht has in dealing with such tables.

       \begin{tabular}{|r||r@{--}l|p{1.25in}|}
       \hline
       \multicolumn{4}{|c|}{GG\&A Hoofed Stock}
         \\ \hline\hline
       & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{Price}& \\ \cline{2-3}
       \multicolumn{1}{|c||}{year}
       & \multicolumn{1}{l@{\,\vline\,}}{high}
       &low & \multicolumn{1}{c|}{Comments}
         \\ \hline
       1971 & 97 & 245 & Bad year for
                  farmers in the west.   \\ \hline
         72 & 245 & 245 & Light trading due to a
                         heavy winter.   \\ \hline
         73 & 245 & 2001 & No gnus was very
                         good gnus this year. \\ \hline
       \end{tabular}

Lists and Environments

The appearances of lists and \begin-\end environments are configured with the following commands.

Pictures

The next command imports external pictures, and the two commands that follow request pictorial representations for local content. The attributes, and the replacement parameters with their enclosing rectangular brackets, are optional.

Mathematical Formulas

In the default setting, the math environments `\(...\)', and the display math environments `\[...\]', request pictorial representations for their content. On the other hand, the math environments `$...$', and the display math environments `$$...$$', ask for no special treatment. Simple features like mathematical symbols, subscripts, and superscripts, are translated into html, and more complex entities like roots and fractions are translated into pictures (example).

Paragraphs

The insertions of code at paragraph breaks are controlled by the following commands.

Configuration Files

The \usepackage{tex4ht} implicitly assumes a configuration file of the following form.

\Preamble{html}\begin{document}\EndPreamble

Similarly, a command of the form `\usepackage[html,option,option,...]{tex4ht}' implicitly assumes a file of the following form.

\Preamble{html,option,option,...}\begin{document}\EndPreamble

On the other hand, a command of the form `\usepackage[file,options]{tex4ht}' assumes a configuration file obeying the following format (example). The extension `cfg' is assumed for names of configuration files that are listed without their extension.

One can avoid using configuration files, by including their implicit and explicit content within the source files. In such a case, the `\begin{document}' of the source file should be replaced with a code segment of the following format (example).

Cascade Style Sheets (CSS)

Cascade style sheets define presentations to the content of hypertext pages, in a manner similar to the way that `.sty' files define the presentations to the content of source LaTeX files. TeX4ht produces a CSS file for each document that is translated to HTML transitional 4.0 code. The following are related commands.

XML

XML (eXtensible Markup Language) is in a sense a meta language for customizing markup languages for arbitrary applications. The following features can become handy for tailoring XML markups in LaTeX documents.

XHTML, Unicode, and MathML

Fonts

TeX4ht has an elaborated machinery for handling fonts, through special virtual hypertext fonts stored in `.htf' files. Instead of providing a design for each symbol, as is the case in standard fonts, the virtual fonts provide a content for each symbol. The following commands offer some control, from within the source LaTeX documents, over the content provided to the symbols.

The htf fonts might request pictorial representations for symbols. In such cases, the sizes of the pictures depend on the sizes of the TeX fonts in use. Size changes through the \magnification command should be made before loading the tex4ht.sty package.

The design of a virtual hypertext font might take some labor, but it does not require too much sophistication.

Configurable Hooks

Much of the look and feel of TeX4ht is achieved through configurable hooks which are defined with the following commands.

Literate Programs (with ProTeX) and Scripts

Literate programming is a discipline that promotes the writing of programs the way one explains them to human beings. ProTeX is a literate programming system fully implemented in terms of TeX, and it is compatible with LaTeX and other TeX-base systems. TeX4ht, and ProTeX itself, are examples of applications written in ProTeX.

Scripts produce the content in verbatim format with no decorations.

TeX

Source TeX files are treated in a manner similar to the way LaTeX source files are treated, with the obvious restriction that only TeX commands are allowed. In particular, the \usepackage command is not valid in TeX. A counter part of the htlatex system command is called httex and it takes a similar format.

The htlatex implies a loading of an implicit or an explicit configuration file when the command \begin{document} is encountered. The httex command, on the other hand, requires the insertion of the code `\csname tex4ht\endcsname' into the source TeX file at the location where the implicit or explicit configuration file is to be loaded (example).

The configuration files for TeX are similar to those for LaTeX, with the only exception of not including the `\begin{document}' instruction.

The compilation, of sources which explicitly include the configuration files, can be invoked with a command of the form `ht tex filename' (example).

The following are possible package parameters of \Preamble available for TeX only.

A \TableOfContents command, similar to the generalized command of \tableofcontents offered to LaTeX, is also provided for TeX.