Latest release
Mailing list
Features
Bugs/Suggestions/Grumbles
Developments and examples
Does grohtml work with eqn?
Grohtml Errata/Limitations

HE groff HTML device driver has been totally rewritten. and is invoked via the device switch -Thtml or -Txhtml. The main difference between this version and the previous version is that it now requests that troff tell the device driver when a section heading/line break actually occurs via special tags. Consequently this device driver is much simpler as it no longer has to guess a heading/title/paragraph etc. The second major difference is that the new -Thtml runs troff twice; once for html output and once for ps output required to generate png images for tables/equations/pictures.

Most of the HTML pages on floppsie are created using this method. Only the texinfo source pages are not.

Latest release

The latest official development groff is available from: groff-devel.tar.gz.

Mailing list

There is a groff mailing list (covering both user and development aspects). Also see the troff home page.

Features

• now generates XHTML via the -Txhtml switch.
• simpler implementation!
• troff passes tag information through from the front end so that the back end device driver understands sections/titles/line breaks and no formatting requests.
• troff run twice once for html text and once for images (ps -> png). Thus all postscript features should work, for example encapsulated postscript.
• all images are transparent png files.
• emitted html code is much easier to read - and passes tidy (apart from omitting the altnative tag on images).
• automatic section heading links are generated (and can be turned off via -P-l).
• automatic rule a the top and bottom of the document are generated. Likewise these can be turned off via -P-r.
• resolution of the images can be altered via -P-i<number>. Where <number> is the number of pixels per inch.
• a simple macro set -mwww provides basic hypertext functions. (See groff_www.man for further details).
• section and numbered heading links can be placed anywhere at users request (including multiple occurances if desired).
• defaults to the html base size of 3 and then scales up and down from there.
• implemented tabs.
• basic indentation implemented via tables, groff -Thtml -man much improved, as are refer generated references.
• fixed right hand cropping of pngs which span the full line length.
• implemented font changes within preformatted text, ie
  extern main (int argc, char **argv);
  

Bugs/Suggestions/Grumbles

Please email with any suggestions, bugs, grumbles about the HTML device driver. Other bugs would be better reported to the newsgroup gnu.groff.bugs for the official groff maintainers.

Developments and examples

The following pages have been created with this new driver:
Eric Raymonds Pic Guide | (pdf)
The man manual page
Encapsulated postscript
Encapsulated postscript example
groff_www.man
iconv.3.man
javah.1.man
perlipc.1.man
groff_char.man

Does grohtml work with eqn?

In short yes! Using -Thtml will always render equations as images. However -Txhtml will produce MathML providing that the equation is not inside a picture or within an image block.

Here are two papers written by Lester Ingber and reproduced here by kind permission. These papers make extensive use of inline equations and indented equations. Anyway judge for yourself both the pdf and html versions are here as a comparison.

Statistical mechanics of neocortical interactions | (pdf)
High-resolution path-integral development of financial options | (pdf)

Grohtml Errata/Limitations

Tables are generated as images.