Section 90. Converting Multiple Documents in GoLive

#90. Converting Multiple Documents in GoLive

If you have an old site with hundreds of pages that you want to convert to XHTML, you may be discouraged thinking it will be a long tiresome job. GoLive actually automates the process of converting documents of this nature so that it's relatively quick and painless.

Converting Your Working Document

You can more readily convert your working document's language, doctype, and markup (HTML/XHTML) using the fly-out menu located in the top-right corner of the document window.

You can find a handful of document conversion options in GoLive by choosing Special > Convert (Figure 90a):

• Encoding: Changes the selected character set (charset) within your documents.

• To HTML: Converts your XHTML documents to HTML.

• To XHTML: Converts your HTML documents to XHTML.

• Doctype: Allows you to choose a different DOCTYPE for your documents. The DOCTYPE of your document informs browsers of how compliant your code is (transitional vs. strict). If you want to convert from HTML Transitional to XHTML Transitional, you'll need to use the To XHTML option.

• To XHTML Mobile: Converts the document or documents you've selected in your site so they're ready for XHTML Mobile.

Figure 90a. The Convert option is your ticket to all the document conversion options GoLive offers.

Each conversion option opens its own dialog. Here you adjust any settings and decide which documents to run the conversion on. Except for XHTML Mobile, you can specify which documents in your site to perform the conversion on by clicking the Work On pop-up menu (Figure 90b). You can choose to convert only the document you're working on (top document), a selection of documents, all the documents within your site, or a set of documents based on a query.

Figure 90b. Use the Work On pop-up menu to specify which files you want GoLive to convert. Your selection list appears directly below the menu.

Rewrite Source Code Site Wide

If you like to jump in and code by hand, you probably have a particular formatting style you prefer your source code to be in. Choose Special > Source Code > Rewrite Source Code to open a dialog where you can adjust exactly how the source code is formatted throughout your site.

When you're ready to convert your selection of documents, click OK. Depending on the number of documents you've selected and the speed of your computer, the conversion process may take a while. This may be an opportune time for a cup of coffee. But when you return, your documents should all be converted, saving you countless hours of coding.