Convert Your Website to HTML

How to save your web pages as HTML

Did you create your site with a website editor? Many people make their first site with a web creation tool when they first decide to build a web page, but later, they decide that HTML would be a better fit. What to do when you have a site created via website editor, but you don't know how to update it as part of your new HTML-created site? Never fear, here's how to convert your original web project to HTML.

How to Get the HTML for the Web Pages You Created

If you created your pages with a software program, you can get to the HTML to change the pages by using the HTML option that comes with the program. If you used an online tool, you may or may not have the option to change your pages using HTML. Some creation tools have an HTML option or a Source option. Look for these or open the menu for advanced tools to search for these options to work with the HTML for your pages.

Salvaging Your Live Web Pages in HTML

If your hosting service doesn't offer the option of getting the HTML from the editor, you don't have to forget about, or trash, your old pages. You can still use them, but first, you must salvage them and save them from the fate they have endured.

Salvaging your pages and turning them into something that you can change with HTML is easy. The simplest way to do this is to open the page in your browser. Now right-click on the page and select View Page Source.

You can also view the page source through the browser menu. In Internet Explorer, it is accessed through the View menu and then select Source. The HTML code for the page will open in a text editor or as a new browser tab.

After you have opened the source code for your page, you will need to save it to your computer. If it opened in a text editor such as NotePad, click on File, then scroll down and click Save as. Choose the directory where you want your file saved to, give your page a file name, and click Save.

If it opened in a browser tab, right-click on the page, select Save or Save as and save the file to your computer. One caveat is that sometimes when you save the page, it eliminates the line breaks. When you open it for editing, everything runs together. You can try instead to highlight the HTML you see in the View Source page tab, copy that with a Control+C and then paste it into an open NotePad window with a Control+V. That may or may not preserve line breaks, but is worth a try.

Working With Your Salvaged HTML Web Pages

You have now salvaged your webpage. If you want to edit it using HTML, you can open your text editor, edit it on your computer and then FTP it to your new site or you can copy/paste it into the online editor your hosting service provides.

Now you can begin adding your old web pages to your new website. 

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Your Citation
Roeder, Linda. "Convert Your Website to HTML." ThoughtCo, Nov. 18, 2021, thoughtco.com/convert-your-web-site-to-html-2652486. Roeder, Linda. (2021, November 18). Convert Your Website to HTML. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/convert-your-web-site-to-html-2652486 Roeder, Linda. "Convert Your Website to HTML." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/convert-your-web-site-to-html-2652486 (accessed March 28, 2024).