Using latex2html

Latex2html is a handy tool for generating html files from latex documents. In addition to formatting the text in a manner similar to the way it appears in the original document, it creates gif images for figures and equations, and it adds html links for jumping to figures and bibliographic references. You can also perform some special tricks with the html.sty style; for example, you can pass href's through to the html file, while the latex version of the document will print the URL as a footnote. For details on using latex2html, consult the documentation .

Changes to latex2html

I have installed the latest version (96.1) in the /usr/common tree. I've also made some modifications to the source as described below.

Postscript to gif conversion

The default ps to gif converter uses ghostscript to rasterize, but the results are crummy. The program "fromps" (ps to Iris image converter) made available by Paul Haeberli does a much nicer job by using Impressario's PSRIP. I've modified the pstogif that comes with latextohtml to use the better tools. I'm not sure if all of the machines have the Impressario's PSRIP installed - lambert and wavelet definitely do. You can find out for sure by trying "fromps" on the machine in question; it won't work if the PSRIP isn't installed.

Borders for non-transparent figures

If you choose not to use transparent figures, they will be generated with a white background. Previously, the image would be cropped right up to the first non-white pixels. I've changed this so that it now leaves a white border around the image. To get non-transparent figures, you will need the line:

    $TRANSPARENT_FIGURES = 0;

in your .latex2html-init file. Amazingly, this cannot be the last line in the file, else perl barfs. So stick it somewhere other than the last line.

Gamma correction

You can introduce gamma correction into your images by adding a line such as the following to your .latex2html-init:

    $FIGURE_GAMMA = 0.8;

A value less than 1 will darken the images. This can be convenient if you have prepared a paper for printing on the dyesub printer; the images in the paper would be too light for publishing on the web.

Caveats when using latex2html

You may have trouble using special classes such as the siggraph class. Since all of this formatting (double column, etc.) goes away when converting to html, it is safer to switch to a basic class (such as article). You might want to copy the latex files to another directory before getting started.
You need to tune the scale factors that latex2html uses for generating images for figures and math symbols. Here are the values I use in my .latex2html-init file:
```
    $MATH_SCALE_FACTOR = 1.7;
    $FIGURE_SCALE_FACTOR = 1.6;
```
Captions cannot contain ~'s or \ref's. (\cite's are ok)
You must position the figures where you want them to end up.
If doing an article with references to sections, should use the "-show_section_numbers" option.
If you want to use gif's with transparency, you need to have a reserved color. Unfortunately, this color is assumed to be white, which is bad if interior regions of your figure contain white (they will be converted to gray). My work-around for this is not to use transparency for figures (see notes above).

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Brian Curless

curless@graphics.stanford.edu