HTMLtoPDF Plugin
Last Modified: 11/27/2006
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About HTMLtoPDF plugin
Creating PDF Documents with Hemingway
Creating PDF Documents with Hemingway
Using Hemingway as a Document Creation Tool
Hemingway is a great tool for creating documents with matching websites. It's easy to do. Here's how.
Construct your website using one of the basic templates (like SubPortal). You'll want to make sure and put most of the content in items (which is always a good thing to do for all your webs). Remember, in HTMLtoPDF, Sections are Chapters and Items are paragraphs.
If you have a lot of content, consider using multiple webs to help organize and compartmentalize. The advantage of using multiple webs, is you can quickly test the HTMLtoPDF rendering on smaller webs. You can later concatenate them into a single rendered PDF using the "New" button in HTMLtoPDF. Multiple webs can also be 'stitched' together for navigation using the Web Stitcher plugin.
Construct your website using one of the basic templates (like SubPortal). You'll want to make sure and put most of the content in items (which is always a good thing to do for all your webs). Remember, in HTMLtoPDF, Sections are Chapters and Items are paragraphs.
If you have a lot of content, consider using multiple webs to help organize and compartmentalize. The advantage of using multiple webs, is you can quickly test the HTMLtoPDF rendering on smaller webs. You can later concatenate them into a single rendered PDF using the "New" button in HTMLtoPDF. Multiple webs can also be 'stitched' together for navigation using the Web Stitcher plugin.
Uploading Images
If you're uploading large images, you'll want to make sure and use the Image Effects feature and set the images to Large or X-Large, then link to a larger copy of itself and open the link in new window (See Figure). This will show a smaller version of the image on the website, but use the larger version of it when rendering the PDF.
If you're uploading large images, you'll want to make sure and use the Image Effects feature and set the images to Large or X-Large, then link to a larger copy of itself and open the link in new window (See Figure). This will show a smaller version of the image on the website, but use the larger version of it when rendering the PDF.
Review your website
Check your content by rendering and viewing in the SubPortal template. This is the web you will use to create the PDF, but first you'll need to select the TechDoc (or other PDF compatible template) and then RENDER THE WEB WITH THE NEW TEMPLATE!
Many times, users forget to render the web and then the resulting PDF file isn't rendered correctly. Once rendered, you are ready to launch the HTMLtoPDF plugin. You may preview this website, but know it is not representative of the final appearance of the PDF.
Many times, users forget to render the web and then the resulting PDF file isn't rendered correctly. Once rendered, you are ready to launch the HTMLtoPDF plugin. You may preview this website, but know it is not representative of the final appearance of the PDF.
Input tab
Hilite the web and select the HTMLtoPDF plugin. The HTMLtoPDF plugin should look like the Figure above. It is important to make sure the 'book' radio button is selected. If it is not selected, then you do not have the TechDoc template set for this web. Close the plugin and set the web style to TechDoc and then launch the plugin again.
The list on this screen shows the pages for this web. Each of these pages will be downloaded by HTMLtoPDF and rendered to PDF.
Hilite the web and select the HTMLtoPDF plugin. The HTMLtoPDF plugin should look like the Figure above. It is important to make sure the 'book' radio button is selected. If it is not selected, then you do not have the TechDoc template set for this web. Close the plugin and set the web style to TechDoc and then launch the plugin again.The list on this screen shows the pages for this web. Each of these pages will be downloaded by HTMLtoPDF and rendered to PDF.
Output tab
Next, you'll want to specify the output path for the PDF you're going to build. You do this by clicking the Output tab and clicking on the Browse button and navigating to a directory you want the file saved and providing a name for it.
If you're only planning on displaying the PDF from the web (and not printing it), you can reduce the filesize by checking the JPEG Big Images.
Next, you'll want to specify the output path for the PDF you're going to build. You do this by clicking the Output tab and clicking on the Browse button and navigating to a directory you want the file saved and providing a name for it.If you're only planning on displaying the PDF from the web (and not printing it), you can reduce the filesize by checking the JPEG Big Images.
Page tab
Click on the Page tab and here you can set the page output size. The default is Universal, and this will create (in the US) an 8.5 x11.0 document sheet. Clicking the 2-sided checkbox will render your PDF so it can be easily printed on a full-duplex (both sides) printer. You can also set the print margins as well as different HEADER and FOOTER settings.
Click on the Page tab and here you can set the page output size. The default is Universal, and this will create (in the US) an 8.5 x11.0 document sheet. Clicking the 2-sided checkbox will render your PDF so it can be easily printed on a full-duplex (both sides) printer. You can also set the print margins as well as different HEADER and FOOTER settings.
TOC tab
HTMLtoPDF will automatically render a Table of Contents when using the TechDoc or other PDF specific templates. If you don't want a TOC, then select "None" in the Table of Contents drop down menu. If not, then keep the default "2 levels."
If you check "Numbered Headings" then a number will prefix each section and item as well as show up in the TOC.
You can create Header and Footer settings for the TOC as well.
NOTE: HTMLtoPDF uses special <h1> and <h2> tags to identify TOC entries. These tags are automatically rendered by the TechDoc and other PDF specific templates. If you include such tags in an item it will create problems in the TOC.
HTMLtoPDF will automatically render a Table of Contents when using the TechDoc or other PDF specific templates. If you don't want a TOC, then select "None" in the Table of Contents drop down menu. If not, then keep the default "2 levels." If you check "Numbered Headings" then a number will prefix each section and item as well as show up in the TOC.
You can create Header and Footer settings for the TOC as well.
NOTE: HTMLtoPDF uses special <h1> and <h2> tags to identify TOC entries. These tags are automatically rendered by the TechDoc and other PDF specific templates. If you include such tags in an item it will create problems in the TOC.
Fonts tab
HTMLtoPDF can only use 3 fonts: Times, Helvetica and Courier. This is a function of the HTMLDOC Open Source app it is built on.
The Fonts tab allows you to specify which font to use for the Heading and Body text. You can also specify the font size and line spacing as well.
HTMLtoPDF can only use 3 fonts: Times, Helvetica and Courier. This is a function of the HTMLDOC Open Source app it is built on.The Fonts tab allows you to specify which font to use for the Heading and Body text. You can also specify the font size and line spacing as well.
Options tab
The Options tab is used to scale images in the PDF document. The default is 680. From the HTMLDOC documentation:
"The Browser Width slider specifies the width of the browser in pixels that is used to scale images and other pixel measurements to the printable page width. You can adjust this value to more closely match the formatting on the screen.
The default browser width is 680 pixels which corresponds roughly to a 96 DPI display. The browser width is only used when generating PostScript or PDF files."
So, very large images, may not fit on a PDF page using the default setting of 680. We recommend, if you're using screen captures to do a test PDF build using a value of 1360.
Tip: You can click the word "Browser Width" and enter in directly the value you like.
The Options tab is used to scale images in the PDF document. The default is 680. From the HTMLDOC documentation:"The Browser Width slider specifies the width of the browser in pixels that is used to scale images and other pixel measurements to the printable page width. You can adjust this value to more closely match the formatting on the screen.
The default browser width is 680 pixels which corresponds roughly to a 96 DPI display. The browser width is only used when generating PostScript or PDF files."
So, very large images, may not fit on a PDF page using the default setting of 680. We recommend, if you're using screen captures to do a test PDF build using a value of 1360.
Tip: You can click the word "Browser Width" and enter in directly the value you like.
New button
When building large documents, it's sometimes easier to break them up into smaller webs, then render them all, one after the other, into a single PDF. This is possible by clicking the NEW button. After clicking NEW, you are presented with a list of webs. Click on each web you want to include in the PDF, in the order to be rendered. Once finished, HTMLtoPDF will build a list of all the URLs it will download to create the PDF.
Note: Only the first web selected will have a 'cover page', while all the other webs will not. This simplifies and makes a more aesthetic document, while also enabling the same webs, rendered in a different style, to be easily 'Web Stitched' for display on the Internet as a website.
This can be a large list with a lot of images, and can take some time to build, so please be patient. We suggest you build each individual web first and check it so as to not have to 'rebuild' the entire list too many times, thus taking a very long time.
When building large documents, it's sometimes easier to break them up into smaller webs, then render them all, one after the other, into a single PDF. This is possible by clicking the NEW button. After clicking NEW, you are presented with a list of webs. Click on each web you want to include in the PDF, in the order to be rendered. Once finished, HTMLtoPDF will build a list of all the URLs it will download to create the PDF.Note: Only the first web selected will have a 'cover page', while all the other webs will not. This simplifies and makes a more aesthetic document, while also enabling the same webs, rendered in a different style, to be easily 'Web Stitched' for display on the Internet as a website.
This can be a large list with a lot of images, and can take some time to build, so please be patient. We suggest you build each individual web first and check it so as to not have to 'rebuild' the entire list too many times, thus taking a very long time.
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