Two free, open-source web apps that give an existing course or textbook a fast on-ramp into open, portable Markdown for Grav Helios, instead of rebuilding content by hand.
The Common Cartridge Converter turns a Common Cartridge (.imscc) export from Canvas, Moodle, Brightspace, or Blackboard into a modern course home for Grav Helios Course Hub, yours to keep and open by default – modules, learning objectives, videos, and syllabus all carried across, with LMS embedding still available if you want it.
The Pressbooks Converter turns a Pressbooks XHTML export into a better web reading experience for Grav Helios Open Reader, with Markdown files already ready for the 5Rs (retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute) – plus Keep My Place reading position and a close, faithful match to your original book.
Upload your export, download a ZIP of ready-to-use Markdown pages, no Grav or Helios installation needed to try it and see what carries over.
Examples (raw conversions with no revisions or fine-tuning):
Digital Animation course
Principles of Social Psychology
Thanks to the respective authors for sharing their work in the open!
As with Course Hub and Open Reader, the only up-front cost involved is the Grav Premium Helios theme, whose license fees fund continued development of the open-source Grav CMS – a sustainable open-source funding model.
Feedback and test files from real-world exports welcome, OER courses and books especially!
Check out both converters at: Grav Helios Converters
