How best to write documentation targeting both HTML and PDF? [closed]

Answer 1

LaTeX? Seriously? I wasn't aware anyone outside academia still used it. I'd go with HTML, which you can save as PDF from the web browser. If you really must have some advanced typographic stuff, go with Word instead - it has a way to save to HTML (probably not as clean as one would like), and you can save as PDF with a free plug-in (downloadable separately).

Oh, and I wouldn't bother using things like InDesign - they are overkill. Also, don't bother paying for Acrobat Professional - there is a zillion free solutions available.

Answer 2

After many years of anguish and several false starts, I'm about to revisit this, and I'm going to give Sphinx a try. It can generate HTML or LaTeX from ReStructured Text.

I'm hoping it will be a much "lighter" option than full DocBook, but with many of the advantages.

Answer 3

PlasTeX looks like a nice latex-to-html converter, though I haven't tried it myself.

My friend Rob Felty wrote a blog post extolling its virtues: http://blog.robfelty.com/2008/03/19/finally-a-better-latex-to-html-converter/

Answer 4

I'm not sure that latex is really the best tool for this. The trouble you're having with the usual latex to html converter is indicative of the problem: html is simple not as expressive as latex.

If you insist on latex to html, take care to use a limited subset that can convert reasonably.