Microsoft Word : MS Word is a word-processing program used primarily for creating documents.
This technology is used by 10.07% of websites in the Editors category. The most popular industry vertical is Business and Finance, with Business being the top subcategory.
Microsoft Word for Web Content
Microsoft Word includes the ability to save documents as web pages (HTML), allowing users to publish formatted content to the web using a familiar word processing interface. This feature enables Office users to create web content without learning HTML or using specialized web design software.
Word's "Save as Web Page" functionality has been available since Word 97. While convenient for simple content publishing, Word-generated HTML is notorious for producing bloated, non-standard code with extensive inline styles and proprietary markup. Despite these limitations, countless web pages have been created using Word, particularly in corporate environments where staff are familiar with Office but not web design tools.
Industry Vertical Distribution
Technologies Frequently Used with Microsoft Word
| Technology | Co-usage Rate | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | 33.42% | http://google.com/analytics |
| Modernizr | 31.52% | https://modernizr.com |
| jQuery | 30.8% | https://jquery.com |
| Google Font API | 30.77% | http://google.com/fonts |
| Apache | 27.7% | http://apache.org |
| Squarespace | 27.53% | http://www.squarespace.com |
| YUI | 26.42% | http://yuilibrary.com |
| Typekit | 24.2% | http://typekit.com |
| Google Tag Manager | 20.7% | http://www.google.com/tagmanager |
| PHP | 19.23% | http://php.net |
Web Publishing Features
Save As Web Page Options
- Web Page (.htm, .html): Complete HTML with supporting files folder
- Single File Web Page (.mht): All assets in one file (limited browser support)
- Web Page, Filtered: Cleaner HTML with less Office-specific code
Converted Elements
- Text Formatting: Fonts, sizes, colors, bold, italic
- Paragraphs: Alignment, spacing, indentation
- Images: Embedded pictures with alt text
- Tables: Data tables with formatting
- Hyperlinks: Links to web pages and documents
- Lists: Bulleted and numbered lists
Word-Specific Markup
Word generates proprietary XML namespaces and conditional comments for Office applications:
- mso-* CSS properties for Office rendering
- o: namespace for Office elements
- Conditional comments for Office versions
- VML graphics for shapes and drawings
AI-Powered Technology Recommendations
Our AI recommender engine, trained on 100 million data points, suggests these technologies for websites using Microsoft Word:
| Technology | AI Score | Website |
|---|---|---|
| TablePress | 0.15 | https://tablepress.org |
| Divi | 0.15 | https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi |
| Azure | 0.14 | https://azure.microsoft.com |
| Polylang | 0.13 | https://wordpress.org/plugins/polylang |
| Preact | 0.13 | https://preactjs.com |
| Iubenda | 0.13 | https://www.iubenda.com/ |
| Constant Contact | 0.12 | https://www.constantcontact.com |
| Matomo Tag Manager | 0.12 | https://developer.matomo.org/guides/tagmanager/introduction |
| ManyChat | 0.11 | https://manychat.com/ |
| WordPress Super Cache | 0.11 | http://z9.io/wp-super-cache/ |
IAB Tier 1 Vertical Distribution
Relative Usage by Industry
Market Distribution Comparison
Use Cases
Quick Content Publishing
Staff needing to quickly publish formatted content use Word's familiar interface. Reports, announcements, and documentation can be converted to web pages without technical knowledge.
Intranet Content
Corporate intranets often contain Word-generated pages. Employees create and publish internal content using tools they already know.
Document Archives
Organizations convert Word documents to HTML for web-accessible archives. The original formatting is preserved for online viewing.
Email Template Creation
Marketing teams create HTML email content in Word for campaigns. Despite code quality issues, the visual editing is accessible to non-developers.
Legacy Content Migration
Large document libraries are batch-converted to HTML for web publishing. Automated conversion preserves content while enabling online access.
IAB Tier 2 Subcategory Distribution
Top Websites Using Microsoft Word
| Website | IAB Category | Subcategory | OpenRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| mayormax.com | Personal Finance | Comedy TV | 4.54 |
| passivehouse-international.org | Business and Finance | Houses | 4.53 |
| cinemalive.com | Events and Attractions | Cinemas and Events | 4.39 |
| aecouncil.com | Business and Finance | Industries | 4.33 |
| artfulmaven.net | Hobbies & Interests | Arts and Crafts | 4.32 |
| dioi.org | Science | Scooters | 4.32 |
| edmonialewis.com | Books and Literature | Biographies | 4.3 |
| ratfanclub.org | Pets | Pet Supplies | 4.29 |
| thereachtrust.org | Business and Finance | Industries | 4.27 |
| couragetoremember.com | Events and Attractions | Adult Education | 4.27 |
HTML Quality Issues
Word-generated HTML is known for significant code quality problems.
Typical Word HTML Output
<!-- Word generates verbose, messy HTML -->
<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml"
xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word">
<p class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;
mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';
mso-ansi-language:EN-US;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;
mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">
Simple text
</span>
</p>Common Problems
- File Size: HTML files 5-10x larger than necessary
- Inline Styles: Massive inline style declarations
- Proprietary Markup: Office-specific tags and namespaces
- Accessibility: Missing semantic HTML structure
- Responsiveness: Fixed widths break mobile display
- Standards: Non-compliant HTML that may render inconsistently
Cleanup Approaches
// Strip Word-specific markup with PHP
function cleanWordHtml($html) {
// Remove Office namespaces
$html = preg_replace('/<!--\[if[^\]]*\]>.*?<!\[endif\]-->/s', '', $html);
// Remove mso-* styles
$html = preg_replace('/mso-[^;:"]+:[^;"]+;?/i', '', $html);
// Remove class="Mso*"
$html = preg_replace('/class="Mso[^"]*"/i', '', $html);
// Remove empty spans
$html = preg_replace('/<span[^>]*><\/span>/i', '', $html);
return $html;
}Usage by Domain Popularity (Top 1M)
Usage by Domain Age
The average age of websites using Microsoft Word is 14.1 years. The average OpenRank (measure of backlink strength) is 2.25.
Best Practices and Alternatives
If Using Word for Web Content
- Use "Web Page, Filtered" option for cleaner output
- Keep formatting simple—complex layouts generate worse code
- Run output through HTML cleaner/validator
- Test in multiple browsers before publishing
- Check mobile responsiveness
- Add proper DOCTYPE declaration
Better Alternatives
- CMS: WordPress, Drupal, or other content management systems
- Static Generators: Hugo, Jekyll, 11ty for technical users
- Website Builders: Wix, Squarespace, Webflow
- Google Docs: Cleaner HTML export than Word
- Markdown: Write in plain text, convert to HTML
Content Workflow Improvement
- Use Word for drafting, then paste into CMS editor
- Configure CMS to strip Word formatting on paste
- Create templates in proper web tools, import Word text only
- Train staff on basic CMS usage
Detection in Wild
Word-generated pages are identifiable by meta generator tags, MsoNormal class names, extensive mso-* CSS properties, and Office XML namespaces in the HTML source.
Emerging Websites Using Microsoft Word
| Website | IAB Category | Subcategory | OpenRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| synergymv.com | Home & Garden | Smart Home | 0 |
| jeannetteallee.com | Books and Literature | Poetry | 0 |
| bertlundy.com | Business and Finance | Industries | 0 |
| businesscoachingfiji.com | Business and Finance | Business | 0 |
| gtma-inc.com | Business and Finance | Industries | 0 |
Technologies Less Frequently Used with Microsoft Word
| Technology | Co-usage Rate | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Google Charts | 0.03% | http://developers.google.com/chart/ |
| eWAY Payments | 0.03% | https://www.eway.com.au/ |
| Zip | 0.03% | https://www.zip.co/ |
| osCommerce | 0.03% | https://www.oscommerce.com |
| Heroku | 0.03% | https://www.heroku.com/ |
