Author Topic: How to check several sites daily with ease? (Read 9790 times)

brotherS · « **on:** February 12, 2022, 07:10 AM »

Hello!

I have several sites that I check/ visit at least once a day. As of now, I leave two of them open in tabs, but that increases RAM/ CPU usage. Other sites I visit when I think of them. There must be a better way, using software or not... but what is it? (In the past, I've tried using a browser bookmarks folder, but I stopped using that for reasons I can't recall now.)

Any ideas?

BGM · « **Reply #1 on:** February 12, 2022, 08:09 AM »

AH - you need an RSS reader, no?

I use QuiteRSS and have for years. It's how I keep track of what happens on DC. It's how I get all my tech news and any word of software giveaways. This way, I get to see all of what is new on nearly any website I want to keep track of. The RSS Reader goes out to all of those sites and fetches what is new and you get to read it like a little morning newspaper.

QuiteRSS runs on my desktop like an extra browser. I've tried over a dozen RSS readers and this is the one I've used the longest and am still using.

https://quiterss.org

brotherS · « **Reply #2 on:** February 12, 2022, 08:18 AM »

AH - you need an RSS reader, no?
I use QuiteRSS and have for years. It's how I keep track of what happens on DC. It's how I get all my tech news and any word of software giveaways.

QuiteRSS runs on my desktop like an extra browser. I've tried over a dozen RSS readers and this is the one I've used the longest and am still using.

https://quiterss.org
-BGM (February 12, 2022, 08:09 AM)

Sorry, should have been more specific: not all of those sites have RSS feeds, and two of those sites I have to check for site notifications.

I wish I just could sign up for email notifications everywhere!

mouser · « **Reply #3 on:** February 12, 2022, 08:38 AM »

Website Watcher: https://www.aignes.com/

brotherS · « **Reply #4 on:** February 12, 2022, 08:43 AM »

Website Watcher: https://www.aignes.com/
-mouser (February 12, 2022, 08:38 AM)

That won't work since half of the sites are password-protected.

BGM · « **Reply #5 on:** February 12, 2022, 08:48 AM »

So, you need a webscraper that can send passwords.

HTTrack?

I'm pretty sure you can give it a password.

Once you are into the scraping business, just put it on a timer.

nickodemos · « **Reply #6 on:** February 12, 2022, 10:20 AM »

Morning Coffee Quantum – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
This is good for checking specific websites daily or on specific days. Just click the button and the pages open that you have set for that day.

Update Scanner – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)
This checks webpages at times you set. It checks for differences in the page. So you can set it up to look hourly for 50 character changes on the page. If there is one, it alerts you with a pop-up.

FrancineTa · « **Reply #7 on:** February 12, 2022, 12:49 PM »

I'm practically a poster child for ADHD, so I've had to learn a lot of tricks to remind me to do things. Here are some of the ones I use for doing online tasks.

The easiest way is to create a Word document or web page with the links to the sites you want. I remind myself to go to it by having a recurring Outlook task that pops up a message containing a link to my Word document or web page. Next to each link to the sites, I include username and password (obscured, just a hint so I know which password I used). Every morning Outlook pops up with a link to the web page and I can go through the links.

The nice thing about creating your own page is that you can group tasks. For example, I have a grouping which is "software that I have paid for". Each time I pay for the software, I add a link in this section with the site address, plus any other relevant information about the license or site. If I need the software installed on a new computer, I have all the installation information at my fingertip. I also have a grouping for "Daily Tasks". I put the groupings in an HTML table at the top of the web page, but it could as easily be a series of hyperlinks at the top of a Word document. Then I use Dropbox to make my links page available to me anywhere I go. All I have to do is remember my Dropbox password

Another technique that I use if I want to make sure I don't accidentally miss any critical sites is to set up Outlook reminders to come up every morning, one per critical link. If I don't have time to go to the site when it comes up, I can click to have it remind me in half an hour or so.

Shades · « **Reply #8 on:** February 12, 2022, 01:22 PM »

AH - you need an RSS reader, no?

I use QuiteRSS and have for years. It's how I keep track of what happens on DC. It's how I get all my tech news and any word of software giveaways. This way, I get to see all of what is new on nearly any website I want to keep track of. The RSS Reader goes out to all of those sites and fetches what is new and you get to read it like a little morning newspaper.

QuiteRSS runs on my desktop like an extra browser. I've tried over a dozen RSS readers and this is the one I've used the longest and am still using.

https://quiterss.org
-BGM (February 12, 2022, 08:09 AM)

RSSOwl i liked much better, but that one didn't handle the amount of websites I track through RSS (including the YT channels, there are 109 feeds). So I looked for an alternative and also "landed" on QuiteRSS. That one fails once every 2 to 3 days, not like RSSOwl 2 or 3 times a day. I also use RSS to keep track of YouTube Channels. Perhaps that is what trips these clients. Still, tracking new content on YouTube using an RSS client, improves the whole YouTube experience a lot for me. And, I can't help but note that QuiteRSS on Linux hasn't failed me once, since I have been daily driving Linux for about 2 months now.

Doesn't Vivaldi browser comes with a built-in feature to keep track of websites that do not have RSS support? I know it has a built-in RSS feed reader. And the ability to show multiple tabs at once. With that in mind you might be able to reduce the amount of sites to check if you can keep all your RSS feeds in the browser next to the tab you use to look on sites without RSS support. Granted, it sounds like a hodgepodge solution, but I found that browsers behave a lot better when there are not so many extensions installed.

Now I find browser-hopping between FireFox and Vivaldi not a big deal. You might experience browser-hopping as the worst thing that could happen, I don't know.

rjbull · « **Reply #9 on:** February 12, 2022, 03:28 PM »

Website Watcher: https://www.aignes.com/
-mouser (February 12, 2022, 08:38 AM)
That won't work since half of the sites are password-protected.
-brotherS (February 12, 2022, 08:43 AM)

The Personal edition of WebSite-Watcher can do passwords.

How to check several sites daily with ease?

brotherS · « **Reply #10 on:** February 12, 2022, 04:54 PM »

Thanks to all of you! I've read everything you wrote, followed the links, was inspired to another Google session, and finally found Distill.io Web Monitor, in my case for Chrome.

It comes with a learning curve, but I managed to figure it out... and I love it!

Because it's a browser extension, passwords aren't an issue. And since I use less than 25 'monitors', I don't have to pay for it.

Shades, you might want to take a look at Notifications for YouTube (Chrome extension).

BGM · « **Reply #11 on:** February 13, 2022, 10:14 AM »

RSSOwl i liked much better, but that one didn't handle the amount of websites I track through RSS (including the YT channels, there are 109 feeds). So I looked for an alternative and also "landed" on QuiteRSS.
-Shades (February 12, 2022, 01:22 PM)

I used RSSOwl but started having problems with it, too. I didn't want to give it up. QuiteRSS solves most problems and can handle a LOT of feeds without any issue at all. It does have its occasional hangups, and the developer doesn't work on it too much, but it still gets a new version every now and then. The biggest problem I find with it is sometimes the embedded browser doesn't load things, but that's okay since I can always load things in my regular browser with just a button-click.

Target · « **Reply #12 on:** February 13, 2022, 10:39 PM »

could be I've missed something here but I'm wondering why a simple tab grouping option wouldn't be a better(?) option?

FWIW I have a similar use case but I use the Bulk URL Opener (https://chrome.googl...fdbbelbdbhhocjmhenep) xtn in Chrome. Some require a login, but once they;ve been opened once I don't need to log in again during the day (should I revisit a site).

There are also xtn's that unload inactive pages or collapse multiple tabs to a single tab or 'menu' (saves RAM).

YMMV but why add another app when the functionality is built into the browser

app103 · « **Reply #13 on:** February 13, 2022, 11:23 PM »

I have a list of sites I visit, some daily, some weekly, and some monthly, and I don't want to forget to visit them (they give away free stuff). In order to ensure I do remember to visit them, I use a Notezilla note to automatically open them on a specific time & date, and it repeats daily, weekly, or monthly, as required. Since I always have Notezilla open any way, it doesn't use any extra resources that it wouldn't normally have already used.

If you have Notezilla or another sticky note app, or task scheduler, or anything else capable of opening a URL and scheduling it, that you normally use any way, that could be a good solution for you.

app103 · « **Reply #14 on:** February 13, 2022, 11:47 PM »

I also use RSS to keep track of YouTube Channels.
-Shades (February 12, 2022, 01:22 PM)

I have a locally installed Wordpress multisite (Bitnami) and use one of my sites to import Youtube videos, using a paid autoposting plugin (WP Automatic). Once I have watched a video, I just delete the post by clicking on the admin bar.

What is nice about using this plugin is that it can also automatically import videos by keyword, rather than from specific channels, OR by keyword from a specific channel or playlist. And it can import content from a lot of other sources, too, not just Youtube.

BGM · « **Reply #15 on:** February 14, 2022, 08:48 AM »

I've seen some addons for chrome and firefox before that allows you an extensive macro system that you can use on web pages. I never had a real use for these systems, but if you wanted to automate web-page processing, that seems like a good start.

iMacro is one of these. I think it's the one I played around with, except it was for firefox - but that was all pre web-extension era.

brotherS · « **Reply #16 on:** February 14, 2022, 11:05 AM »

app103: cool idea (https://www.donation....msg448168#msg448168)!

I've seen some addons for chrome and firefox before that allows you an extensive macro system that you can use on web pages. I never had a real use for these systems, but if you wanted to automate web-page processing, that seems like a good start.

iMacro is one of these. I think it's the one I played around with, except it was for firefox - but that was all pre web-extension era.
-BGM (February 14, 2022, 08:48 AM)

Interesting stuff, but iMacros looks WAY too complex for most users.

nickodemos · « **Reply #17 on:** February 14, 2022, 08:52 PM »

For the average user iMarco is pretty much out of reach. Yet it is a fantastic program to use.

conceptworld · « **Reply #18 on:** February 17, 2022, 09:41 PM »

I use a Notezilla note to automatically open them on a specific time & date, and it repeats daily, weekly, or monthly, as required. Since I always have Notezilla open any way, it doesn't use any extra resources that it wouldn't normally have already used.
-app103 (February 13, 2022, 11:23 PM)

+1 Thanks for explaining how you use Notezilla.

Contro · « **Reply #19 on:** May 10, 2022, 01:41 AM »

For the average user iMarco is pretty much out of reach. Yet it is a fantastic program to use.
-nickodemos (February 14, 2022, 08:52 PM)

Where is this software iMarco ?¿?¿?¿

Contro · « **Reply #20 on:** May 10, 2022, 02:03 AM »

For the average user iMarco is pretty much out of reach. Yet it is a fantastic program to use.
-nickodemos (February 14, 2022, 08:52 PM)

Owwwww I see

it's iMacros and is referenced in the post above the link of iMacros