Import Full Formated Text (late reply)

[JonathanC at ag.nsw.gov.au]

On 11/19/03 9:55 AM, Thomas J McGrath III wrote:

> So, when you are creating an interactive project or whatever you are 
> saying that most people have been content to just start from scratch 
> with the text formatting?

Sorry, I know this thread is probably a bit stale (1. I'm a digest 
subscriber + 2. I wrote my reply last week on the train and saved it as a 
'draft' and then forgot to send it when I got to work :-\ )but, for what 
it's worth ... 

I look after a website that has a very advanced web-based CMS (MySource). 
One of its features is that contributors can edit pages - if they are 
using IE on a PC at least -with a WYSIWYG editor. In fact, they can copy 
and paste directly from a Word document, and it will reproduce the 
formatting (almost) exactly. But there are two big problems with that:

1. The resultant HTML is so full of Micro$oft-proprietary code that the 
page ends up 2 or 3 times bigger than it needs to be.
2. (More seriously) The page usually looks terrible, especially in the 
context of the rest of the site, because its font-family, font-size, 
line-height, margins etc. don't match other pages.

99% of the time, if you're importing text from another source, all you 
need is for your bolds & italics to make it through. And, even then, you 
often need to edit that, to apply your own 'house-style'. (e.g. no 
underlines)

Regarding images, the chances that you will be able to use images with the 
same dimensions/resolution/format/position as the originals are close to 
0.

OK, that was all from a website point of view, but I believe it would 
apply equally well in (Revolution-based) multimedia.

Regards,
Jonathan Cooper
Manager of Information / Website
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au

This e-mail message is intended only for the addressee(s) and contains 
information which may be confidential.  If you are not the intended 
recipient please advise the sender by return email, do not use or disclose 
the contents, and delete the message and any attachments from your system. 
 Unless specifically indicated, this email does not constitute formal 
advice or commitment by the sender or the Art Gallery of NSW  (ABN 24 934 
492 575) or its related entities.