Automated conversion of table-based websites to structured stylesheets using table recognition and clone detection
Andy Y. Mao, James R. Cordy, Thomas Roy Dean · Proceedings of CASCON · 2007
Web standards such as XHTML and CSS are rapidly coming into practice and have many advantages, including compatibility, consistency across browsers, and increased ease of maintenance. Unfortunately large numbers of existing websites still use the deprecated table-based layout style in which page style is unique to each page. Existing tools for automating the transition to stylesheets provide little help, converting page-by-page using a flattened structure and local inline styles rather than a common CSS stylesheet. This approach ignores hierarchical structure and defeats the main purpose of moving to the new standard, losing all of the advantages.