How can I import html fragments as formatted cells?

Question

I see that there is limited support for "HTMLFragment" in Export, but I figured with all the work that went into porting Mathematica into the Wolfram Cloud there should be a way to Import "HTMLFragments".

Here is the fragment I'd like to import into a cell/box expression:

    <div style=\"text-align: center;\">
    This is <span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">
    <i>an example</i></span> of a <u>
    <font face=\"Georgia\" style=\"font-size: 19px;\">text cell</font></u> with 
<font color=\"#c14dff\" style=\"\">complex styles</font> applied.</div>

So this would look like this:

Answer 1

OP's stuff:

html = "<div style=\"text-align: center;\">
      This is <span style=\"font-size: 21px;\">
      <i>an example</i></span> of a <u>
      <font face=\"Georgia\" style=\"font-size: 19px;\">text \
cell</font></u> with 
  <font color=\"#c14dff\" style=\"\">complex styles</font> \
applied.</div>";

Simon Woods color converter:

hexToRGB = RGBColor @@ (IntegerDigits[ ToExpression@StringReplace[#, "#" -> "16^^"], 256, 3]/255.) &

Auxiliary functions, you have to extend them for proper interpretation of all rules...

lhs[name_String] := Switch[name,
   "face", FontFamily,
   "font-size", FontSize,
   "color", FontColor,
   "text-align", TextAlignment,
   "center", Center,
   _, name
   ];

rhs[string_String] :=  Composition[ToExpression, lhs, 
    StringReplace[#, {"px" -> "", color : ("#" ~~ __) :> ToString[hexToRGB[color]]}] &,  StringTrim][string];

style[opt : {__}] := (style /@ opt);
style[{} | ""] := {};
style["style" -> (dir_)] := style[dir];
style[(l_) -> (r_)] := lhs[l] -> rhs[r];
style[s_String] := Sequence @@ (lhs[#] -> rhs[#2] & @@@ Partition[StringSplit[s, ";" | ":"], 2]);

Procedure:

xml = ImportString[html, "XML"];


Block[{XMLElement},

 XMLElement["div", opt_, content_] := Cell[BoxData@RowBox@content, style@opt];
 XMLElement["i", opt_, content_] := StyleBox[RowBox@content, Italic];
 XMLElement["u", opt_, content_] := StyleBox[RowBox@content, Underlined];
 XMLElement[tag_, opt_, content_] := StyleBox[RowBox[Riffle[content, " "]], style@opt];

 CellPrint@xml[[2]]]