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Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: kartal on March 16, 2009, 09:47 PM
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Hi guys
I have been looking for a decent shared bookmarking and web scraping solutions for a while. I have checked out scrapbook, webresearch, linkman etc. None of them does what I want. What I want is an application that
-can save webpages
-does not use proprierty format
-does not use special database. I want flat file system so it is easier to sync. I hate syncing 100 mb database file back and forth couple times a day.
Scrapbook
This is a great application-addon that does what I want very closely however it has problems with files synced over the network. When I sync scrapbook folders I need to restart FF, it does not refresh the database automatically which really sucks because it really has everything I need.
Webresearch
This is a great program but it is using proprierty database format and provided syncing solution can only work if you sync the database across computers then manual operation. Basically first you sync(via another program) the database outside this application then you need to manually sync inside the application, whcih can get very confusing along the way.
I hate online solutions so I will never use them. I like to take care of my own stuff on my own computers on my servers. So no online social bookmarking-online scraping solutions are any good for me.
Any suggestions, ideas?
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Canaware NetNotes (http://www.canaware.com/default.aspx) comes close to your requirements
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It does not work on my system :( It crashes during startup
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Have you tried or heard of this?
WebSiteZip Packer
http://www.spadixbd.com/wsz/
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The obvious program for saving Web pages is Local Website Archive (http://www.aignes.com/lwa.htm).
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The obvious program for saving Web pages is Local Website Archive (http://www.aignes.com/lwa.htm).
-rjbull
It's a bit quirky working from some browsers (opens a version of the page in internal i.e. for saving) but it
- saves as html + images + css
- allows annotation/tagging
- allows editing (paid version) to remove junk
- allows search
- can capture from other sources
- simply synchronized over any normal sync program (uses some kind of has for folder names so no risk of collision)
- integrates with wsa which can work as a bookmark manager of sorts
I just wish there was a way to get multiple pages as it can get quite repetitive if you want to save, say, 7 pages
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Oops, wrong thread. I don't know how to delete my post!
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I'm not sure what Local Website Archiver does.
I haven't played with it yet.
But Websitezip Packer can save a web site with the links operational,
though the linked page is not saved.
The links will open on the web in your default browser.
It only saves the target website.
Then there is an option to save the site without it being operational.
If for some reason you want to share a site without the links operational.
So either way it keeps the saved web page small in size.
Which I think is the point.
I could be mistaken, but i've mess around with it for a few sites.
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cmpm,
thanks for the suggestion but that is not what I am looking for.. I am looking for an integrated solution not a standalone application where I need to run a wizard to save the page in an exe file or some special compressed format. ANd it does not provide any bookmarking as far as I can tell.
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I wanted to try the free version but it looks like it tries install to some other programs which I have not liked it, so gave up on that one. And you cannot try the pro version so it is useless for me.
The obvious program for saving Web pages is Local Website Archive (http://www.aignes.com/lwa.htm).
-rjbull
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Probably what I need is an application that can open, manage and organize .mht files. Because I can save .mht inside FF. I really do not see any other viable application really. The applications either have their own database formats or they offer no syncing. On the other hand mht files contain the whole site and can be synced individually. Though this would only take care of scraping not bookmarking.
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- integrates with wsa which can work as a bookmark manager of sorts
-iphigenie
I think you mean wsw there? When I try WSW as a bookmark manager it tends to report "too many bookmarks!" I use LinkStash for that.
I just wish there was a way to get multiple pages as it can get quite repetitive if you want to save, say, 7 pages
Some download managers have features for grabbing whole sites, or presumably parts of sites starting from where you tell them - IDM certainly does, and I think FDM does, though I haven't tried it.
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I wanted to try the free version but it looks like it tries install to some other programs which I have not liked it, so gave up on that one. And you cannot try the pro version so it is useless for me.
-kartal
Huh? What kind of other programs does it try to install? The PRO version comes in the same installer as the Free one, just choose to try the PRO version during installation.
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I wanted to try the free version but it looks like it tries install to some other programs which I have not liked it, so gave up on that one. And you cannot try the pro version so it is useless for me.
-kartal
Hmm, which programs does it install?
If you use the original setup (eg. from www.aignes.com), then no additional programs are installed. Neither for the free edition nor for the PRO edition...
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I guess I don't understand the request.
Seems you could put Firefox on your server and save pages with firefox as you require. Using Firefox from your server on any machine hooked to it.
Or have a central folder on your server for saved pages using any program or plugin you like. Saving to a network places folder or some folder in firefox.
Weave is coming out soon though it is not ready, waiting for the newer versions of firefox. But that's using their servers I'm sure. Foxmarks works fine for me, being able to set my bookmark structure in any fashion I like.
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If you use FireFox you may check Zotero http://www.zotero.org/
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Saving pages and trying to organize them under folders is not very convenient when it comes to creating a scrapbook repo at all.
I do not like any form of online syncing which includes Foxmark. Also Foxmark offers only bookmarking. no scrapbook solution.
Zotero falls into similar category as others I have tried. It is great for local archieve but local network syncing-sharing is not possible. The latest betas offer syncing but that is done via their servers which sounds very inefficient(considering that one might have a 1gb of web repo). The other reason why online syncing sucks is that many times you have no idea what kind of rights they will hold to your data in the future. Many companies let you sync stuff for free because they like to data mine and they would like to sell or make your data part of the deal in the future in case of changing ownership.
I really hope that people would be more careful about what they are giving away for free like that when it comes to online services.
I guess I don't understand the request.
Seems you could put Firefox on your server and save pages with firefox as you require. Using Firefox from your server on any machine hooked to it.
Or have a central folder on your server for saved pages using any program or plugin you like. Saving to a network places folder or some folder in firefox.
Weave is coming out soon though it is not ready, waiting for the newer versions of firefox. But that's using their servers I'm sure. Foxmarks works fine for me, being able to set my bookmark structure in any fashion I like.
-cmpm
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Hi
I will give it a go for second time. I might have mixed with another application, sorry about that.
I wanted to try the free version but it looks like it tries install to some other programs which I have not liked it, so gave up on that one. And you cannot try the pro version so it is useless for me.
-kartal
Hmm, which programs does it install?
If you use the original setup (eg. from www.aignes.com), then no additional programs are installed. Neither for the free edition nor for the PRO edition...
-aignes
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Ok this one looks like it could be an alternative but the thing is that there is no way for me to test the sharing the database issue among other computers with the free version since the database folders are locked in free version. And it is not very cheap application either at least for my wallet. So I cannot just buy and hope that it would work.
I wanted to try the free version but it looks like it tries install to some other programs which I have not liked it, so gave up on that one. And you cannot try the pro version so it is useless for me.
-kartal
Hmm, which programs does it install?
If you use the original setup (eg. from www.aignes.com), then no additional programs are installed. Neither for the free edition nor for the PRO edition...
-aignes
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And it is not very cheap application either at least for my wallet.
-kartal
kartal, you just missed the March 2009 DC discount, 30% on LWA! :(
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Actually that sounded good. I had around 30$ budget for this kind of application.
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march is not over yet -- it's still running :)
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Yes but I am not sure if the syncing would work or not. I cannot buy without trying certain functions. I can already save webpages with different free applications.
Btw does it have a firefox addon? I was looking for a convenient solution as well.
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I'm not sure I see why you would benefit from the pro version of LWA over the free version, not with what you explained of your needs.
You could create a link so that the lwa root folder on one machine points to the other folder over the network (I have done it in the past as I wanted to move all data off the C: drive), or you can use a sync tool to keep 2 sets of folders in sync, or you can even export/import
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Btw does it have a firefox addon? I was looking for a convenient solution as well.
-kartal
Yes, on the right-click menu in Firefox. It also has a kind of "macro" capability that allows it to send keystrokes to a program, so you can do the equivalent of Ctrl-S. That allows LWA to save material from a wider range of programs that aren't already included in its list, like K-Meleon. The list of supported applications includes most popular browsers, several e-mail clients and news readers.
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Are you more interested in Bookmarking or actually saving sites / pages? I am curious becuase although some proggies do both perhaps depending on your needs having a more focused solution might be ideal. You mention Linkman which doesn't save pages last I checked so I'm a little confused as to what exactly you need?
For Bookmarks Link Commander by Resort Labs is good and on par with Linkman.
http://www.resortlabs.com/bookmark-manager/linkcommander.php
Offline content solution Metaproducts Inquiry is good. http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/inquiry_professional_edition.htm
I think it might be a good idea for you to take a look at the Note Taking Roundup by Aram Chavdarian... maybe MyBase, Surfulater or Evernote fit into your requirements?
https://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/NoteTakers1/index.php
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I am interested in sharing my bookmarks and saved pages across my networked computers. Ideally I am looking for a solution that is integrated. For example it would be great if I have an application that does bookmarking, saving pages and letting me sync the data either shared through network folders or using any syncing application. I am not looking for an application offers custom sharing methods, that is limiting to me. Now sure I can sync any kind of data across computers but I do not want to restart an application when I sync the data so this application should watch the content folder for any change and reflect the change instantly. One of the drawbacks of many of those applications is that they use a private format for keeping the data. I am sure there are benefits to it but I would like the data to be recognizable by many applications.
I have used most of the applications that was reviwed in that page over the years and none of them does what I want.
Basically what I am looking for is Scrapbook addon for FF that actually works with synched data. Scrapbook does exactly what I need. But It does not watch for synced changes, I need to restart Firefox to see the changes.
My current solution is using Onenote(because I can share-sync the notebooks) and multiple Scrapbooks (via FF addon, every computer has its own scrapbook on a network folder).
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I am interested in sharing my bookmarks and saved pages across my networked computers.-kartal
For what little it may be worth, you can save pages, or parts of pages, in Evernote, and export them again as MHT files. Not as seamless or all-encompassing as you may want, but at least it's a format most people will be able to read. At least that's true of Evernote 2 series; I haven't tried the Web-based version.
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rjbull,
that would not be a sharing method because first it is one way, second it takes alot of steps and dedication. IF you want to sync 50 items a day, that will take alot of time and resources. On the otherhand I can just save .mht out of FF anyways it is easier.
I have been using Evernote and was a dedicated fan for sometime but I have stopped using it last month because I realized that they actually do not care much about their offline users. They want more people to put more stuff on their online servers. I personally hate all these online stuff, online sync online storage. I like to take care of my own data my way not someone else`s way. Also subscription based models are deceptive. I cared about their application not their online options but they seem to like to make subscription based pricing and most of their improvement has been about online stuff. So it makes no sense for me to pay for their subscription. Anyways it might be a good model for those who are crazy for online storage options. To me its waste of time, money and resources to sync local data over internet. You can sync your local evernotes over the internet. But this is a problem it you have more than couple hundred megs.
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I get the feeling that to get what you want you may need two solutions one proggie that "watches" and syncs your folders and a second one like perhaps Offline Explorer Pro or Enterprise to get your content downloaded in it's original format.
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I already have those solutions. What I want is an application that updates itselfs as soon as the content is synced. I use powerfolder to sync my stuff.
I get the feeling that to get what you want you may need two solutions one proggie that "watches" and syncs your folders and a second one like perhaps Offline Explorer Pro or Enterprise to get your content downloaded in it's original format.
-Trilinea
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kartal: A question to your question as it looks like you have done some research on this.
Do you know if it's possible to have scrapbook save all the content that we 'scrap' online and have it downloaded and synced on another computer automatically? ala Foxmarks for bookmarks.
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You can put the scrapbook repo on another computer via syncing or using lan folder. Another client can open and read this data without any problem. The main issue I am facing at the moment is that the changes are not reflected in realtime. you need to restart FF to force Scrapbook to reread the content, thus it updates the content.
My solution is using multiple scrapbook repos at the moment. You can define multiple scrapbooksprofiles in the settings. This way I have one scrapbook for my laptop one for desktop etc. But the nice thing is that any SB client can open any of these SB repos as seperate profiles(assuming they are shared or synced).As long as that is the case I can see the changes done by other SB client done on individual repositories.
Scrapbook is not synching anything, it has no capability to do that. Best method is using dropbox, powerfolder or similar clients to sync your data. If it is your network then put it on a shared folder and access the content that way.