;; -*- coding: utf-8 -*-

(defun htmlify ()
  "Translate some characters to corresponding HTML sequences in current buffer.
In transient mark mode, the function operates on the region if it is active."
  (interactive)
  (save-excursion
    (save-restriction
      (when (and transient-mark-mode mark-active)
	(narrow-to-region (region-beginning) (region-end)))
      (let (case-fold-search)
	(dolist (s '(("ä" "ä") ("Ä" "Ä") ("ö" "ö")
		     ("Ö" "Ö") ("ü" "ü") ("Ü" "Ü")
		     ("ß" "&szlig;") ("<" "&lt;") (">" "&gt;") ("…" "...")
		     ("–" "-") ("„" "\"") ("“" "\"")
		     ;; add more sequences here
		     ))
	  (goto-char (point-min))
	  (while (search-forward (car s) nil t)
	    (replace-match (cadr s) t t)))))))