Evaluation by @Macarlo
Windows 2000 Professional Beta Tester
(Screenshots by Embellish)

Hello Sizzlers!
Finally I solved a crucial problem for any webmaster working with large amount of various texts everyday! Using AscToHTm we can convert plain text to HTML directly, making nice webpages rather than all WYSIWYG web editor! I just evaluated on my Web IDE (Windows 2000 Professional Workstation) the version 4.0 of this fine release made by  JafSoft Limited. The developer, ASP Member, has released AscToHTM 4.0 for Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000. This a program converts plain text files (.txt) into good looking HTML web pages in seconds.

Since the firsts versions of modern web editors running in design mode as Macromedia Dreaweaver, Allaire Home Site (now sucked by the Macromedia Family), Namo, Adobe PageMill and others I encountered exactly the same problem that OS/2 users encountered using StarOffice to make websites working in WYSIWYG: when you copy any text directly from webpages or from a plain text editor and paste it onto the WYSIWYG template where you are working, the lines normally appears double-spaced and you must reformat the entire block manually because a macro can't be used.

The referred problem is simply dramatically if your sucked source is the Microsoft Word, because this word processor inserts dozens or unnecessary commands. In this case you will be forced to use the Dreamweaver Cleanup feature designed for cleanup Word sources and your CPU & RAM will be sucked dramatically!! When MS Word is used to convert text to HTML the size of the document is terrifically increased: a original 20K plain text can be transformed in a monster: a HTML page around 200K, 300K or much more!! Because several Active-X commands inserted this converted page can be increased by itself at all hits received and soon is a page with 1MB or 2MB!! Incredible, but is true. If any disfunction occurs in the txt/web convert ion process MS Word made this phenomenon!!

Now, using AscToHTm this problem is completely solved. The user needing converts a sucked text from web page generated by MS Word simply copies only the entire text using Notepad or another ASCII text editor and reconvert it to HTML with fine aspect!!

I evaluated version 4.0 on my Windows 2000 Pro and rated it the maximum for a soft here: Five Butterflies.

Five Butterflies for the best

I sucked fast the little file with the soft from the developer's website, unzipped and installed it in seconds without problems. No reboot is needed and I immediately started this soft in order to work with it in a giant mystical article sent me in MS Word format by a writer. In seconds I transformed this problematic page in a nice page without any problem!! For all webmasters that are working with much text like me I sincerely recommend AscToHTM.

Photo above shows the install screen of the registered version of AscToHTM

AscToHTM is a utility designed to convert plain text files into HTML pages.  The program can be used to convert legacy text files to HTML as one-off conversions, or to help you author sets of HTML pages in text.

The program attempts to detect the existing structure in the files being converted by determining rules or policies that describe the file layout.  These are known as the analysis policies.

The HTML generated by the program can be configured via the programs output policies.  The policies used by the file can be saved to a policy file and subsequently reloaded.  This allows standard sets of policies to be defined.

Click the logo above to visit the developer

Photo above shows the interface of AscToHTM started on Windows 2000 Pro Web IDE

 JafSoft Limited has released AscToHTM 4.0 for Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000, a program that converts plain text files (.txt) into good looking HTML web pages in seconds.

AscToHTM converts text files using advanced text-recognition algorithms that detect the document's structure. It recognizes headings, bullets, lists, indentation, URLs, tables, ASCII art and much more. The resulting HTML faithfully reflects the structure of the original document.

This easy-to-use program adds value to the HTML e.g. by turning URLs into hyperlinks and adding color to your pages. It can generate a hyperlinked contents list from your headings, split large files into a set of linked pages, or place your HTML in a set of frames. These extra features make the software ideal for use as an authoring tool as well as a conversion tool.

Novice users will appreciate how easy it is to quickly generate HTML - just choose the files to be converted, press a single button and the results are displayed in your browser.

Power users will love the control that they can exercise over such things as title, colors, <META> tags, style sheets and a myriad of other aspects of HTML production. For efficiency, your selected options may be saved in "policy files" for reuse next time you run the program.

Whether you are a business user that wants to place key documents and reports on your Intranet, or a budding author who wishes to publish your prose as good-looking e-books, this software will save you many hours of effort. The extensive documentation will guide you through the program's many features.

Version 4.0 introduces support for frames generation; copying the HTML generated directly to the windows clipboard; and allowing user-supplied HTML fragments to be used to customize the HTML generated by the program.

AscToHTM 4.0 costs $40(US) for a single user license. Site licenses are available. The software is made available free of charge to Usenet FAQ maintainers.

For more information visit http://www.jafsoft.com/asctohtm/ or email info@jafsoft.com. A 30-day trial can be downloaded from http://www.jafsoft.com/download/windows/aschtm40.zip (1.3Mb)

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Evaluation copy is available upon request to press@jafsoft.com

AscToHTM is available for magazine cover disks. Please contact press@jafsoft.com to ensure you have the latest version.

The software has 5 stars at ZDNet and many others and has been described by a number of reviewers as the "best in the world". Reviews can be read at http://www.jafsoft.com/asctohtm/reviews.html

Developers may like to know that an API is also available under separate license for those who wish to integrate the software's functionality with their own applications. Contact sales@jafsoft.com for details.

Photo above shows the output HTM file generated on a plaint text by AscToHTM

Copyright © 2001 John A Fotheringham. Whilst you may make free use of this file for personal use, text and/or images from this helpfile may not be used for any commercial purposes without prior written permission from JafSoft Limited

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