In the 2009 release, Doc-To-Help introduced a built-in XHTML editor.  Since we’ve already discussed that innovation in a previous post, this post will focus on how fast, easy, and practical it is to take your existing Word documents and take them into the 21^st Century.

Converting Your Documents is a Click Away

Whether you have documents from a previous Doc-To-Help project, or are trying to get your existing Word files and manuals into a more flexible format, moving them over to XHTML is just a click away.

Simply open up your project, right-click on a Word document, and select “Convert to XHTML…”:

When the conversion wizard comes up, just click “Convert” and Doc-To-Help will do the rest!

The result is an XML file that can be opened and edited using Doc-To-Help’s built-in editor, or any external editor that is XHTML-compliant.

It really is that easy!

Of Course, Doc-To-Help Lets You Customize

The Word document that was converted in the above example used the default map file for converting Word styles to XHTML styles.  This map file installs with Doc-To-Help and can be used as a template of sorts to map any custom styles you have in your Word documents to custom XHTML styles.  You can edit the map file in Notepad or Visual Studio.

You can also re-create any custom styles you created in your Word template in Doc-To-Help’s built-in style editor.

Why XHTML?

There are a number of reasons to move your content over to the XHTML format now.

XHTML is Standards Based, Not Proprietary

Even though a lot of people use Word, it is still a proprietary application.  If something breaks down, or there is an aspect of the software that is limiting, it is up to the manufacturer to fix those issues.

With XHTML, the standards and rules that govern it have been established by an impartial 3^rd party and the code that exists in the editor is yours.  You can feel free to fix or customize it to your heart’s content.

XHMTL Separates Formatting from Content

This gives you more control over both formatting and content and allows for more flexible, stable content.  Word lets you format your content locally, which could lead to overall formatting issues and content that does not comply with company standards – font colors, graphic layouts, font sizes and types.

Considerably Faster Build Times

Though we’ve improved the speed of Doc-To-Help’s build times with every release, the fact remains that your biggest chunk of downtime during the course of the day occurs while you’re waiting for a project to build.

XHTML source files are smaller and build as Help outputs much faster. 

For Example: A standard project built recently using Word source documents took nearly eight minutes to build.  With XHTML source documents, the same project built in under three minutes and 30 seconds! 

If you build your project once a day, simply moving your source files over to XHTML will save you two full work days per year.

Conclusion

If you’ve been thinking about bringing your content into the 21^st century, now is the time.  Whether you’re a longtime Word user, a longtime Doc-To-Help user, or someone who just wants better, more flexible content, Doc-To-Help’s XHTML source format is for you.

Once you get your Word files moved over to XHTML, you can continue to add to your project moving forward with Doc-To-Help’s built-in XHTML editor, which has a Microsoft Word-like interface.

If nothing else, if you can save two days a year by spending less time waiting for a build to finish, you owe it to yourself to take half an hour and move everything over now.