Convert AI Chat Responses from Markdown to HTML

AI-powered chat assistants have become an essential tool for millions of users: students, content creators, customer support teams, researchers, etc. As a result, many developers are building applications that use AI-generated responses to deliver dynamic and interactive content. In most cases, the AI assistant API returns a text response in JSON, MD, or plain text format, but in any case, the response requires conversion to be presented on a web page.

Convert Markdown to HTML – From AI Response to Web Page

AI chat assistants often provide responses formatted in Markdown. Although Markdown is a lightweight and readable format, it cannot be directly used for display on the web. To present AI-generated responses as a well-styled web page, we can convert Markdown to HTML using Aspose.HTML for .NET.

In this article, we will show how to develop an application that takes AI-generated Markdown responses and converts them into a properly styled HTML web page.

Why AI Assistants Use Markdown for Responses?

AI assistants use Markdown because of its readability, structured formatting, and cross-platform compatibility. Markdown supports headings, bold text, code snippets, and links, making it easy to organize AI-generated content. It is lightweight, easy to convert to formats like HTML or PDF, and ideal for automation in APIs. These benefits make Markdown an ideal choice for preserving text structure and formatting in AI-generated responses.

However, web browsers do not support Markdown natively, so AI-generated responses need to be converted into HTML. HTML allows for custom styling and CSS formatting, which improves the overall presentation of AI responses, making the content more accessible and visually appealing.

Steps to Build an AI Response Converter

To convert an AI-generated Markdown response into an HTML page, follow these steps:

Capture the AI response in Markdown format.
Use Aspose.HTML for .NET to parse and convert the Markdown string to an HTML document.
Apply CSS styles to improve visual presentation.
Save or display the HTML content in a web application.

The following C# example shows how to convert an AI-generated Markdown response into an HTML page:

 1// AI response in Markdown format with the text, code example and link
 2string markdownContent = "# How to Convert a Markdown File to HTML\n" +
 3                     "## Introduction\n" +
 4                     "Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting text. If you need to convert a Markdown file to an HTML document, you can use **Aspose.HTML for .NET**.\n\n" +
 5                     "## Steps to Convert\n" +
 6                     "1. Load the Markdown file.\n" +
 7                     "2. Convert it to an HTML document.\n" +
 8                     "3. Save the output file.\n\n" +
 9                     "## Example Code\n" +
10                     "```csharp\n" +
11                     "// Convert a Markdown file to HTML\n" +
12                     "Converter.ConvertMarkdown(\"input.md\", \"output.html\");\n" +
13                     "```\n\n" +
14                     "For more details, refer to the [official documentation](https://docs.aspose.com/html/net/convert-markdown-to-html/).\n";
15
16// Create a memory stream from the Markdown string
17using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream(System.Text.Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(markdownContent)))
18{
19    // Convert Markdown to HTML
20    HTMLDocument document = Converter.ConvertMarkdown(stream, "");
21
22    // Ensure the document has a <head> element
23    HTMLHeadElement head = document.QuerySelector("head") as HTMLHeadElement;
24    if (head == null)
25    {
26        head = document.CreateElement("head") as HTMLHeadElement;
27        document.DocumentElement.InsertBefore(head, document.Body);
28    }
29
30    // Create a <style> element with CSS styles
31    string cssStyles = "body { font-family: Open Sans, sans-serif; max-width: 800px; margin: auto; padding: 20px; background-color: #f9f9f9; }\n" +
32                   "h1, h2 { color: #1f1fb2; }\n" +
33                   "p, li { font-size: 16px; }\n" +
34                   "code, pre { font-family: Consolas, monospace; color: #f8f8f2; background-color: #272822; padding: 10px; border-radius: 5px; display: block; }\n";
35
36    HTMLStyleElement styleElement = document.CreateElement("style") as HTMLStyleElement;
37    styleElement.TextContent = cssStyles;
38
39    // Append the <style> element to the <head>
40    head.AppendChild(styleElement);
41
42    // Save the resulting HTML file
43    string outputPath = Path.Combine(OutputDir, "chartAnswer.html");
44    document.Save(outputPath);
45
46    // Print the HTML content to the console
47    Console.WriteLine(document.DocumentElement.OuterHTML);
48
49    Console.WriteLine("Conversion completed. HTML saved at " + outputPath);
50}

Example-ConvertMarkdownSringToHTML hosted with ❤ by GitHub

How the Code Works

Let’s take a closer look at how to convert an AI-generated Markdown response into an HTML web page:

Capture the AI response in Markdown format. A Markdown string can contain structured text, such as headings, bold text, code snippets, and links. In the example, content includes an AI-generated response with formatting elements.
Convert the Markdown string into an HTMLDocument by passing a MemoryStream containing the Markdown data. Use the ConvertMarkdown(stream, baseUri) method from the Aspose.Html.Converters namespace.
Retrieve the <head> element using QuerySelector("head") method. If the <head> element is missing, create it using CreateElement("head") and insert it before the <body> using the AppendChild(node) method.
Create a <style> element using CreateElement("style"). Define CSS styles for body text, headings, lists, and code blocks. Append the <style> element to the <head> of the HTML document.
Use the Save(path) method to save the generated HTML file. Use the OuterHTML property to print the resulting HTML structure to the console for verification.

The figure illustrates the rendered result of the conversion of AI Markdown response to an HTML web page.

Text “Converted AI Markdown response to HTML web page”

Conclusion

AI chat assistants often provide responses in Markdown format. However, it is not suitable for display directly on websites. Therefore, it is necessary to convert Markdown to HTML.
Applying CSS enhances the structure by improving the readability of fonts, adding color contrast, and correctly formatting code blocks. This makes AI-generated responses more user-friendly and professional when displayed on a web page.
Aspose.HTML for .NET offers a powerful and flexible solution for handling Markdown conversion. With the help of the Converter.ConvertMarkdown method, developers can easily convert AI-generated Markdown responses into well-structured HTML. Additionally, by integrating CSS directly into the document, the output can be customized to match the design of any website.

In the article Convert Markdown to HTML, you will learn about the supported Markdown to HTML conversion scenarios and consider C# examples to illustrate them. Also, you can try an Online Markdown Converter to test the Aspose.HTML API functionality and convert Markdown on the fly.
Download the Aspose.HTML for .NET library, which allows you to successfully, quickly, and easily convert your HTML, MHTML, EPUB, SVG, and Markdown documents to the most popular formats.
You can check the quality of Markdown to HTML conversion with our online MD to HTML Converter. Upload, convert your files and get results in a few seconds. Try our forceful Markdown to HTML Converter for free now!

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