TeX4ht

TeX4ht is a configurable converter capable of translating TeX and LaTeX documents to HTML and certain XML formats. Most notably, TeX4ht serves for converting (La)TeX documents to formats used by word processors. It was developed by Eitan M. Gurari (*1947, †2009).

The program is published under the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL).

History
When TeX4ht was developed in the 1990s, it originally was only capable of converting (La)TeX to HTML. Thus, it was possible to publish scientific documents that were written in (La)TeX on the world wide web for display in a web browser. Particularly, hypertext features were supported, so it became possible to include hyperlinks in the web version of your documents.

More XML-based formats were supported gradually. Presently: XHTML, MathML, OpenDocument, DocBook, and TEI are supported by TeX4ht. Whilst not supported officially, JavaHelp can be generated.

TeX4ht is now included preconfigured with all TeX distributions.

Since Eitan M. Gurari's death the program has been maintained by Radhakrishnan CV and Karl Berry.

Function
As opposed to other converters, most notably LaTeX2HTML or TtH, TeX4ht does not directly transform the TeX (or LaTeX) markup into the output markup language (HTML etc.). Instead, an ordinary (La)TeX run compiles a DVI file from the source first. TeX4ht subsequently processes the DVI file.

Thus, TeX4ht essentially can deal with any successfully compiling (La)TeX document source. If features transcending standard TeX formats LaTeX or plain TeX etc. are added by loading publicly available macro packages or user-made (perhaps document-specific) commands, such as for managing your bibliography with BibTeX, TeX4ht still can process and convert the source, as these extensions do not need corresponding implementations in the converter.

Mathematical formulae and other characters or symbols that cannot be displayed as text in the output format are converted into graphics that are included in the resulting document.

LaTeX documents can be converted by TeX4ht into Microsoft Word doc format via the native text format of OpenOffice.org, ODT.

Literature

 * Translating LaTeX to HTML using TeX4ht, in: Michel Goossens, Sebastian Rahtz, Eitan M. Gurari, Ross Moore, Robert S. Sutor. The LaTeX Web Companion. Integrating TeX, HTML, and XML. 1999. 8th printing January 2006. pp. 155–194.
 * Eitan Gurari, HTML Production, TUGBoat 25 (2004), No. 1, pp. 39–47.