What apps export to "flat HTML"?

[67952]

A company wants a document I am writing as a "flat HTML" file.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is this?

Can I write the document in Word, TextEdit, or Pages and then export to "flat HTML?

It's just a text file, correct?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[jared_kipe]

I assume they mean they want an html document with all CSS and/or Javascript embedded in the page itself.

They could also mean they want only inline styles, i.e. no <style> tags in the document so that it is more compatible with HTML email.

'Traditional' inline styles.

<div style="float: left; width: 100px">
 ...
</div>
<div style="float: right; width: 100px">
 ...
</div>

CSS Style tags

<style type="text/css">
    .left {float: left;}
    .right {float: right;}
    .onehundred {width: 100px;}
</style>
<div class="left onehundred">
 ...
</div>
<div class="right onehundred">
 ...
</div>

What you get from the mentioned programs will probably vary.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

To OP:

Just wanted to add to some clients it also might mean a web page "devoid of any formatting codes, line feeds or encoded or special control characters of any kind", which is a text file. 😉

In some cases, clients mean they want an extensible format for easier universal import/export, i.e. XHTML and there are tools out there such as HTML Tidy which converts HTML to XML. "This conversion is useful for webmasters who are migrating to XML. It can also help XML converts who have to interface with legacy HTML tools." as noted in the web site where you can download HTML Tidy:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/xml/library/x-tiptidy/index.html

This is intended to simply expand upon jared_kipe's excellent response, of course.