Conversion from (La)TeX to HTML
and 
are well suited to producing electronically
publishable documents. However, it is important to realize the difference
between page layout and functional markup. TeX is capable of
extremely detailed page layout; HTML is not, because HTML is a
functional markup language not a page layout language. HTML's exact
rendering is not specified by the document that is published but is, to
some degree, left to the discretion of the browser. If you require your
readers to see an exact replication of what your document looks like
to you, then you cannot use HTML and you must use some other
publishing format such as PDF. That is true for any HTML
authoring tool.
TeX's excellent mathematical capabilities remain a challenge in the business of conversion to HTML. Originally there were only two generally reliable techniques for generating mathematics on the web: creating bitmaps of bits of typesetting that can't be translated, and using symbols and table constructs. Neither technique is entirely satisfactory. Bitmaps lead to a profusion of tiny files, are slow to load, and are inaccessible to those with visual disabilities. The symbol fonts offer poor coverage of mathematics, and their use requires configuration of the browser.
Today, with native MathML rendering in some browsers and high quality math rendering available via JavaScript and CSS in all modern graphical browsers there are several possibilities.
The LaTeX to HTML convertors listed below all handle mathematics to some extent, and further math-specific details are discussed in page “Math on the Web”.
For today, possible packages are:
- TeX4ht a compiled program that supports either LaTeX or Plain TeX, by processing a DVI file; it uses bitmaps for mathematics, but can also use other technologies where appropriate. Written by Eitan Gurari, it parses the DVI file generated when you run (La)TeX over your file with `tex4ht`s macros included. As a result, it's pretty robust against the macros you include in your document, and it's also pretty fast.
Configuring and calling `TeX4ht` can be quite complicated, Michal Hoftich's `make4ht` system provides an alternative easier calling convention, using the `tex4ht` convertor internally.
- LaTeX2HTML a Perl script package that supports LaTeX only, and generates mathematics (and other “difficult” things) using bitmaps. The original version was written by Nikos Drakos for Unix systems, but the package now sports an illustrious list of co-authors and is also available for Windows systems. Michel Goossens and Janne Saarela published a detailed discussion of `LaTeX2HTML`, and how to tailor it, in TUGboat 16(2).
A mailing list for users may be found on the TUG website.
- Hevea a compiled program that supports LaTeX only, and uses the font/table technique for equations (indeed its entire approach is very similar to `TtH`). It is written in Objective CAML by Luc Maranget. `Hevea` isn't archived on CTAN.
- `TtH` a compiled program that supports either LaTeX or Plain TeX, and uses the font/table technique for representing mathematics. It is written by Ian Hutchinson, using Flex. The distribution consists of a single C source (or a compiled executable), which is easy to install and very fast-running. However the resulting HTML does not really reach modern standards, and only very simple mathematics can be converted.
- `plasTeX` a Python-based LaTeX document processing framework. It gives DOM-like access to a LaTeX document, as well as the ability to generate multiple output formats (e.g. HTML, DocBook, tBook, etc.).
- `TeXpider` a commercial program from Micropress, which is described on the Micropress web site ; it uses bitmaps for equations.
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