Word count tools for web pages?
Thread poster: Andy S
Andy S
Andy S
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:05
German to English
Aug 8, 2016

I have been sent a file in .html format.

Unfortunately the online html word count tools I aw tried can do not work, and neither does copying and pasting into a Word document,

Can anyone suggest a solution, please?


 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 03:05
Spanish to English
+ ...
My solution Aug 8, 2016

Tell the client to send you the text to be translated in Word, and that if you have to do it in HTML, your rate will be higher (for example twice the price). This is my number one condition, and (in my experience anyway) most clients have no problem sending you the text in a workable format if it's going to save them money.

 
Lianne van de Ven
Lianne van de Ven  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:05
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
view in browser Aug 8, 2016

...and copy/paste the text in a word document should give you a quick idea of the word count.

This page, for example, has about 1015 words.
https://kbpdfstudio.qoppa.com/?p=2680

This is an older thread on the topic. Cat tools should be able to handle html, although I d
... See more
...and copy/paste the text in a word document should give you a quick idea of the word count.

This page, for example, has about 1015 words.
https://kbpdfstudio.qoppa.com/?p=2680

This is an older thread on the topic. Cat tools should be able to handle html, although I don't have personal experience with it.
http://www.proz.com/forum/cat_tools_technical_help/261332-website_translation_software.html

I just did a quick test of my own web page (html) and opened it in wordfast. It is straightforward and you can analyze the number of words easily with built-in tools.

Screen Shot 2016-08-08 at 11.38.33 AM
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Andy S
Andy S
United Kingdom
Local time: 02:05
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
I tried copying and pasting to Word, but... Aug 8, 2016

...it did not work.

I ended up printing the document and OCR-ing into Word.

Thankyou for your suggestions however.


 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 02:05
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Copying and pasting can land you in a whole load of problems Aug 8, 2016

Lianne van de Ven wrote:
copy/paste the text in a word document should give you a quick idea of the word count.

I did that for one client (a marketing agency) as they insisted I do it that way. Actually, it was for a whole website - not a very large one. So I dutifully did the copy/pastes and translated the text. They were happy with the translation and the invoice, until the end client pointed out that various chunks of text had been missed. We were then into highly urgent additional work for which I couldn't impose any surcharge as I was at least partly at fault. Also, I was dealing with an extremely unhappy client, who had quoted a flat rate based on my original quote. I was quite surprised when they contacted me a year later for another website translation. This time I insisted on getting the text in a Word file. Lo and behold, they came back with an urgent request for more work as they themselves had missed some text this time. But it was 100% their own fault and they had to pay my rush rate for the work. Lesson well and truly learnt for both parties.


 
Lianne van de Ven
Lianne van de Ven  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 22:05
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Fully agree Aug 8, 2016

Sheila Wilson wrote:

Lianne van de Ven wrote:
copy/paste the text in a word document should give you a quick idea of the word count.

I did that for one client (a marketing agency) as they insisted I do it that way. Actually, it was for a whole website - not a very large one. So I dutifully did the copy/pastes and translated the text. They were happy with the translation and the invoice, until the end client pointed out that various chunks of text had been missed. We were then into highly urgent additional work for which I couldn't impose any surcharge as I was at least partly at fault. Also, I was dealing with an extremely unhappy client, who had quoted a flat rate based on my original quote. I was quite surprised when they contacted me a year later for another website translation. This time I insisted on getting the text in a Word file. Lo and behold, they came back with an urgent request for more work as they themselves had missed some text this time. But it was 100% their own fault and they had to pay my rush rate for the work. Lesson well and truly learnt for both parties.


I fully agree: I would not go by copy/pasting to translate a site and assume that I had covered everything. I believe you need to use a cat tool to process the html, or you need to understand html and work directly in the html file.

But if you want to have a quick idea of how many words roughly are on a web page, my suggestion works - but only for a simple page or a few pages, not for a more complex website. I just wanted to point out the basic idea of displaying html in a browser and copying the words. I am not sure why this didn't work for Andrew. Html pages can contain graphics with text as well, so it is indeed not simple. If that's the case, a cat tool won't pick up the text either. I usually work with clients who are specialized in handling that side of the job. Online tools like Smartling are specifically created for this purpose.


 
Marissa Aguayo Gavilano
Marissa Aguayo Gavilano  Identity Verified
Peru
English to Spanish
+ ...
I found a tool Nov 23, 2017

I know the thread is old, but maybe someone someday will be looking for this again. I recently discovered the tool called InSite.

You can find it here: http://www.inspyder.com/products/InSite

I have been using it to quote on website translations. You get ALL the pages, so make sure to use exceptions when needed. If the client wants me to extract the text, there's a charge
... See more
I know the thread is old, but maybe someone someday will be looking for this again. I recently discovered the tool called InSite.

You can find it here: http://www.inspyder.com/products/InSite

I have been using it to quote on website translations. You get ALL the pages, so make sure to use exceptions when needed. If the client wants me to extract the text, there's a charge on top, but at least you get a better idea of the word count without having to copy and paste all the text just to quote the client.
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Joice Maiara Ulsenheimer
 
Seula Yun
Seula Yun  Identity Verified
South Korea
Local time: 11:05
Member (2017)
English to Korean
+ ...
Thanks Jan 15, 2018

Marissa Aguayo Gavilano wrote:

I know the thread is old, but maybe someone someday will be looking for this again. I recently discovered the tool called InSite.

You can find it here: http://www.inspyder.com/products/InSite

I have been using it to quote on website translations. You get ALL the pages, so make sure to use exceptions when needed. If the client wants me to extract the text, there's a charge on top, but at least you get a better idea of the word count without having to copy and paste all the text just to quote the client.



Thanks Marissa. I was looking for a tool like that one


 
Herbert Greenspan
Herbert Greenspan
Pakistan
Local time: 07:05
There are a lot of other Mar 2, 2019

There are a lot of other wordcountertools as well in the market but to choose the best is one of the difficult task as well and the users have to give their proper time to the points because all of them claim to provide you the same results but when you jump into their shoe, you come to know that there are a lot of flaws in them and you need to fix those. I am sure that you will like that tool because it ha... See more
There are a lot of other wordcountertools as well in the market but to choose the best is one of the difficult task as well and the users have to give their proper time to the points because all of them claim to provide you the same results but when you jump into their shoe, you come to know that there are a lot of flaws in them and you need to fix those. I am sure that you will like that tool because it has all the necessary tools to overcome the problems.Collapse


 


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Word count tools for web pages?







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