Help:Converting HTML to Wiki Syntax

The easiest way to import content from a web page into the Kumu Wiki is to convert the HTML code into Wiki Syntax. Please be mindful of copyright.

As editing of the results is frequently necessary, it is a good idea to be familiar with basic HTML tags and wiki code before trying to convert into MediaWiki markup.

Step by step directions

1. Open one of the converters from the list below.
2. In a new tab or window, open the webpage that you wish to import into the UBC Wiki.
3. This next step depends on which converter you have opened. Do one of the following:
   • View the page source (in the right-click menu). Then copy/paste the relevant code (just the content section, not the whole page (see note below)) into the (top) box of the converter.
   • Or, copy the link in the "Fetch from URL" box. In this case, you will need to delete the header and footer.
   • Note: Generally, for a UBC page, what you want to keep is between <!--//Start Editable Region//--> and <!--//Stop Editable Region//-->.
4. Settings (if applicable):
   • Wiki Dialect = MediaWiki
   • Encode HTML Entities = unchecked
5. Click on the "Convert HTML to wiki markup" button (if it doesn't work, use the "Fetch from URL" option or another HTML converter).
6. Copy/paste the resulting text into the edit box of the wiki page you have created.
7. Preview the page and check that everything looks correct.
   • Most errors will be very easy to fix, sometimes the first line of a table isn't on a new line, or a link begins and ends at the wrong places (just move the square brackets).
   • If you get funny characters in place of apostrophes for example, the easiest/quickest solution is to copy and paste the wiki code into a text editor and use the "Replace All..." function.
   • If you have a lot of HTML left over and/or something goes very wrong, then copy and paste the wiki code into a Strip HTML tool and also copy the following into the "Allow tags" box: <u><center><strike><sup><sub><center><nowiki><tt><pre><ref><blockquote> (you may not want all of these, particularly blockquote) You can then copy and paste the code that tool gives you back into the wiki editing box.
8. Save!

• Please Note: Images will need to be uploaded as only placeholders are created in the code.

Online HTML to Wiki Syntax Converters

Recommended

• http://openfacts2.berlios.de/html2wiki/index.php
• http://www.ebruni.it/en/software/os/i_love_wiki/index.mpl

Others

• http://labs.seapine.com/htmltowiki.cgi

First draft of this page derived from: http://wiki.ubc.ca/UBC_Wiki:FAQs