WebSite Watcher Question

[Perry Mowbray]

For those fanatical WebSite Watcher Users, I was chatting to a fellow at work today and realised that he needed WebSite Watcher! I think 

Question about feature: Monitor whole sites instead of single pages

He needs to be notified when changes happen on a particular part of a site. So for example, if the root site is divided into 50 major sections (pages), and he only needs to monitor a few of those major sections (and their sub-pages): is that what "Monitor whole sites instead of single pages" can do??

Although I've never used it myself, I am encouraged by the fanaticism displayed here, and based on that would have no hesitation recommending it to IT. As a matter of interest: Do people have opinions about any alternatives?

Thanks,
Perry

[aignes]

The "Follow-Links" functionality automatically inserts all links of a page as new bookmarks. You can define a link depth and also include/exclude filters, for example to exclude links that contain "/forum/" or "?id=".

A small video can be found at http://www.aignes.com/videos.htm

He needs to be notified when changes happen on a particular part of a site. So for example, if the root site is divided into 50 major sections (pages), and he only needs to monitor a few of those major sections (and their sub-pages): is that what "Monitor whole sites instead of single pages" can do??

In that case you can define a separate master bookmark of each major section you want to monitor. Their sub-pages should then be checked automatically with the Follow-Links functionality.

[Perry Mowbray]

Thanks: I thought it had to be like that, but just wanted to check users.

Have you tested that functionality?

[Perry Mowbray]

Heck... I'll just try the Demo... 

[J-Mac]

Thanks: I thought it had to be like that, but just wanted to check users.

Have you tested that functionality?

Perry - that was Martin Aignesberger, the developer...  I think he has most likely tested it!! 

Jim

[Perry Mowbray]

Perry - that was Martin Aignesberger, the developer...  I think he has most likely tested it!! 

Thanks Jim (said removing egg from facial regions)

In my defense I was at work and in a rush, and it sort of sounded third person?

But I think I'll just shut my mouth now before putting the other foot in as well...

[J-Mac]

No problem.  You wouldn't know otherwise - I have been at his forum a number of times so I would know.

And if you're reading fast at work you probably don't look at signatures or might even have them turned off.

It does seem that he keeps an eye out here for questions and tries to post answers when he can.  Pretty admirable.

Jim

[J-Mac]

By the way, Website Watcher is an excellent program; very comprehensive.  However it does have a bit of a learning curve, at least for non-coding types like me.

I liked the idea of a program that could keep an eye on web pages and notify me when they change. Of course it isn't quite that simple! Most pages, for example, have a Date element that changes daily, and there are usually a number of other elements that change more often than you realize at first blush.  When you get notified of ALL changes it is sort of like the boy who cried wolf -- you stop paying much attention to that page and then invariably miss a big change that you were hoping to catch.

In those cases - which is most pages - you can create filters to only be notified of changes that are important to you. Some filters are pretty basic and don't take a lot of learning. Others require that the filter be composed - like writing scripts for some applications. That's where Website Watcher can be more difficult, IMO.  There is not much information at all as to how to compose filter scripts.  I have tried some that get real complex very quickly, and more often than not I end up getting changed pages where there's a warning saying that my filter is no good.  Occasionally I get it worked out, and a lot of times I just give up!

The program could really use better documentation regarding filters IMO.  Although at the forum many users seem to have less problems with filters, so it may just be that you need to have a better background in coding.  At least that's how it appears to me.

Jim

[Perry Mowbray]

Thanks Jim: appreciate your comments.

Actually, I did recognise Martin's login when I looked: it was his language that made me not look in the first place 

Yes, I've got the trial installed at the moment in lieu of some testing for some of our principals... unfortunately ran into the 3 directory limit of the trial a bit quickly But it's all good: I'm monitoring a couple of sites with 5-600 bookmarks in each 

Thankfully the sites that require monitoring are pretty basic and filtering is not required, but follow is

I can see if we do go down this path (which is pretty sensible), that I'll need to manage a lot of the bookmarks for these fellows.