Convert Excel to Web Tables
Note: Since I wrote this page many years ago, I found a website that will do the same thing if you don't have Dreamweaver. Check out Mr. Data Converter, which converts Excel data into several different formats, including HTML, JSON, MySQL, & XML. Best of all, it's open source, so you can run it on your own server if you'd like!
You've got an Excel spreadsheet, and you want it to become a table in a Web page. How do you do it?
Whatever you do, do NOT export from Excel to HTML—the 'HTML' it produces is a godawful mess. In fact, it only works with Internet Explorer on Windows. There's no technological reason for this; during the antitrust trial, Microsoft executives testified that they made this decision in order to further force people to use IE instead of alternative browsers.
There's a much better way to do this.
1. Save the Excel file as a CSV (comma-delimited) file (or tab-delimited—whatever floats your boat). Excel will complain that you're going to lose formatting. Go ahead and let it know that you are a human with a brain, and yes, you really want to do this.
2. Open Dreamweaver & go to the File menu > Import > Import Tabular Data.
3. Follow the instructions in the dialog box. Hit OK.
You're done. Your Excel spreadsheet is now a table on a Web page. And, best of all, your HTML is not a godawful, proprietary mess.
