HTML2X

HTML2X is a simple yet powerful tool to convert HTML to PNG, JPG, or PDF files. The tool uses Firefox browser in its headless mode to render the HTML and then take a screenshot. The file is converted to the needed format using Imagmagick and is served usig Python Flask; there is also a CLI version to convert files directly from command line as opposed to the API option.

The tool is presented in two easy-to-use docker containers built upon the light weight Alpine Linux distribution.

HTML2X-webservice

Deployment:

Start by pulling the docker image and deploying it locally.

docker pull mwmansour/html2x-webservice
docker run --rm -p 7100:7000 mwmansour/html2x-webservice 

How to use:

Use the tool directly from your browser with this GET request:

http://localhost:7100/?link=https://github.com/
http://localhost:7100/?link=https://github.com/&extension=pdf
http://localhost:7100/?link=https://github.com/&extension=jpg&wh=480,600

As you can see there is only a single required parameter, that is, "link". You can also choose the target extension (available options are pdf, png, and jpg). Moreover, you can change the viewport using the "wh" argument, passing the desired width,height in pixels.

Notice that with the webservice tool you cannot convert local files directly; however, you could use NGINX or any similar service to locally host your files or you could use the CLI tool to convert your local files.

HTML2X-cli

Deployment:

Simply pull the docker image.

docker pull mwmansour/html2x-cli

How to use:

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/exported/ mwmansour/html2x-cli sh html2x.sh "https://github.com/" 
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/exported/ mwmansour/html2x-cli sh html2x.sh "https://github.com/" --extension pdf
docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/exported/ mwmansour/html2x-cli sh html2x.sh "https://github.com/" --extension jpg --wh 480,600

Note that you need to surround your links with double quotation marks. You can still specify the extension and viewport size just as in the webservice mode.

To use the CLI service with a local file, prefix its name with "file:///exported/":

docker run --rm -v $(pwd):/exported/ mwmansour/html2x-cli sh html2x.sh file:///exported/index.html

Building the containers

If you prefer to build the containers, you can do so by simply executing the docker_build.sh file after cloning the project.