The HTML Migration Challenge
HTML was designed for browsers, not content management. Over years, your HTML content accumulates cruft: inline styles from old editors, wrapper divs from ancient themes, class names from deprecated frameworks. This presentation-focused markup makes content migration a nightmare.
Anatomy of Legacy HTML Hell
Here's what typical CMS HTML looks like after years of accumulation:
<div class="post-content"> <div class="wrapper"> <p style="margin-bottom: 20px; font-size: 16px;"> This is <span style="font-weight: bold;">important</span> content with <a href="/old-link" class="internal-link" target="_blank">a link</a>. </p> <div class="list-wrapper"> <ul style="margin-left: 40px;"> <li>First item</span></li> <li>Second item</li> </ul> </div> </div></div>
Versus clean Portable Text structure:
[ { "_key": "e29133e865ed", "children": [ { "_type": "span", "marks": [], "text": "This is important content with ", "_key": "d699f9245ab4" }, { "_type": "span", "marks": [ "55acd23526eb" ], "text": "a link", "_key": "469a7aea1534" }, { "_type": "span", "marks": [], "text": ".", "_key": "696bae35f57a" } ], "markDefs": [ { "_key": "55acd23526eb", "_type": "link", "href": "/old-link" } ], "_type": "block", "style": "normal" }, { "_key": "0fad85c9fa76", "children": [ { "_type": "span", "marks": [], "text": "First item", "_key": "5ae5410aca70" } ], "markDefs": [], "_type": "block", "style": "normal", "level": 1, "listItem": "bullet" }, { "_key": "1c19a9679c17", "children": [ { "_type": "span", "marks": [], "text": "Second item", "_key": "95488c890deb" } ], "markDefs": [], "_type": "block", "style": "normal", "level": 1, "listItem": "bullet" }]
The converter strips the cruft and preserves the meaning.
Who Needs HTML to Portable Text Conversion?
WordPress Migration Teams
With 40% of the web running on WordPress, millions of sites need modern content infrastructure. WordPress stores content as HTML in the database, making Sanity migration complex.
Projected numbers:
- Average WordPress site: 500+ posts
- Manual conversion time: 30 minutes per post
- Total migration time: 250+ hours
- Cost at $50/hour: $12,500
Legacy CMS Modernization
Organizations running Drupal, Joomla, or custom CMSes from the 2000s have massive HTML content stores that need modernization.
Projected numbers:
- 15,000 pages of HTML content
- Manual migration quote: $375,000
- Automated conversion: $15,000
- Savings: $360,000
Static Site Conversions
Companies moving from static HTML sites or Jekyll/Hugo to Sanity need to convert years of accumulated HTML content.
Projected numbers:
- 90% reduction in migration time
- Preservation of all semantic structure
- Clean, queryable content in Sanity
Enterprise Content Consolidation
Enterprises consolidating multiple CMSes into Sanity face diverse HTML formats from different systems.
Challenge Solved:
- WordPress HTML + Drupal HTML + Custom CMS HTML → Unified Portable Text
- Consistent structure across all sources
- Standardized content for omnichannel delivery
What Our HTML Converter Handles
HTML Elements Supported
- Semantic HTML - Headers, paragraphs
- Text Formatting - Bold, italic, underline, strike, code
- Lists - Ordered, unordered, nested, definition lists
- Links - External, internal, anchors, mailto
- Blockquotes - With proper attribution
- Code Blocks - With language detection
HTML Elements Coming Soon
- Images - With alt text preservation
- Tables - Basic structure
HTML Cleanup Features
- Strip inline styles - Removes presentation markup
- Remove wrapper divs - Eliminates structural cruft
- Clean class names - Strips CSS dependencies
- Fix broken HTML - Handles malformed markup
- Normalize whitespace - Cleans up formatting
- Preserve semantics - Maintains content meaning
How HTML Conversion Works
Intelligent Parsing
Our converter doesn't just strip tags. It understands HTML semantics:
- Semantic Analysis - Identifies the meaning of HTML elements
- Structure Preservation - Maintains document hierarchy
- Format Mapping - Converts styles to Portable Text marks
- Content Extraction - Pulls clean text from markup
- Reference Resolution - Handles links and media
Common HTML Conversion Challenges
The WordPress Problem
Challenge: Shortcodes, Gutenberg blocks, theme-specific markup
Solution: Intelligent pattern recognition and extraction
The Inline Styles Mess
Challenge: Style attributes everywhere breaking structure
Solution: Strip presentation, preserve semantics
The Nested Div Soup
Challenge: Excessive wrapper elements obscuring content
Solution: Recursive unwrapping while maintaining hierarchy
The Legacy Encoding Issues
Challenge: Character encoding problems from old systems
Solution: Automatic encoding detection and normalization
Integration with Your Migration Pipeline
Bulk Processing Workflow
- Export HTML from source CMS
- Process through converter API (coming soon)
- Validate output
- Import to Sanity dataset
Advanced Features on the Roadmap
Enterprise Bulk Conversion (Q1 2026)
- Process entire CMS exports
- Parallel processing for speed
- Progress tracking and reporting
- Error handling and recovery
Custom Conversion Rules
- Map custom HTML patterns
- Handle proprietary markup
- Organization-specific transforms
- Legacy format support
CMS-Specific Optimizations
- WordPress block parser
- Drupal field mapping
- Joomla component handling
- Custom CMS adapters
Why ContentWrap's HTML Converter?
Semantic Preservation
We don't just strip HTML. We understand and preserve the semantic meaning of your content.
Clean Output
No unnecessary nesting, no empty spans, no redundant marks. Just clean, efficient Portable Text.
Enterprise-Ready
Handles massive documents, malformed HTML, and legacy encoding issues that enterprise migrations encounter.
