Software to convert html5 to old html4 (downgrading)?

Xeratul · 05-26-2015, 04:36 AM

Hello,

Would you know a software to convert html5 to old html4 (downgrading)? I could not find anything.

Thank you,
Regards

mralk3 · 05-26-2015, 05:48 PM

There is no such thing as converting HTML5 to HTML4. You would need to go through and edit the HTML5 so that it is compliant to HTML4 standards. Look at this for information on what has changed between the two versions.

The problem I see with doing this is that HTML5 is far more compatible with today's networked devices than HTML4 ever was. What reason do you have for switching your web app to HTML4? What web app are you developing?

dugan · 05-26-2015, 06:10 PM

For most pages, it's incredibly easy. You change the DOCTYPE at the top of the file, and you change the semantic container elements (section, article, etc) to divs. You can use a text editor, or you can use sed if you have a lot of files to convert.

Note that there is absolutely zero reason to ever do that. If you think you have a use case for it, you're wrong.

If there are audio or video or canvas elements then you replace them with Flash. If there's offline storage you replace it with AJAX. Those are a bit less easy.

John VV · 05-27-2015, 01:42 AM

if you are using Gnome

then Gedit is what you need

kate if using KDE

or Emacs

Xeratul · 05-27-2015, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

For most pages, it's incredibly easy. You change the DOCTYPE at the top of the file, and you change the semantic container elements (section, article, etc) to divs. You can use a text editor, or you can use sed if you have a lot of files to convert.

Note that there is absolutely zero reason to ever do that. If you think you have a use case for it, you're wrong.

If there are audio or video or canvas elements then you replace them with Flash. If there's offline storage you replace it with AJAX. Those are a bit less easy.

Furthermore, the html5 code can be more complex (to highly) and not be understood as html4. I am not sure that only changing DOCTYPE and header changes might work in all cases. I was more considering a web browser that would do this operation by itself. Firefox can save as, but of course no formating html4 might be present since it can mod the page.

dugan · 05-27-2015, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xeratul

Furthermore, the html5 code can be more complex (to highly) and not be understood as html4.

And what examples are there other than the ones I already mentioned?