Author Topic: Bookmarks, I am frustrated (Read 31,059 times)

kartal · « **on:** March 17, 2009, 02:47 AM »

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?

rgdot · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2009, 03:02 AM »

Canaware NetNotes comes close to your requirements

kartal · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2009, 03:19 AM »

It does not work on my system

It crashes during startup

cmpm · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2009, 03:39 AM »

Have you tried or heard of this?

WebSiteZip Packer

http://www.spadixbd.com/wsz/

rjbull · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:38 AM »

The obvious program for saving Web pages is Local Website Archive.

iphigenie · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2009, 08:23 PM »

Quote from: rjbull on March 17, 2009, 10:38 AM

The obvious program for saving Web pages is Local Website Archive.

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

siouxdax · « **Reply #6 on:** March 18, 2009, 12:45 AM »

Oops, wrong thread. I don't know how to delete my post!

cmpm · « **Reply #7 on:** March 18, 2009, 02:11 AM »

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.

kartal · « **Reply #8 on:** March 18, 2009, 04:10 AM »

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.

kartal · « **Reply #9 on:** March 18, 2009, 04:12 AM »

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.

Quote from: rjbull on March 17, 2009, 10:38 AM

The obvious program for saving Web pages is Local Website Archive.

kartal · « **Reply #10 on:** March 18, 2009, 04:16 AM »

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.

rjbull · « **Reply #11 on:** March 18, 2009, 10:07 AM »

Quote from: iphigenie on March 17, 2009, 08:23 PM

- integrates with wsa which can work as a bookmark manager of sorts

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.

Quote

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.

Lashiec · « **Reply #12 on:** March 18, 2009, 10:38 PM »

Quote from: kartal on March 18, 2009, 04:12 AM

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.

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.

aignes · « **Reply #13 on:** March 19, 2009, 12:02 PM »

Quote from: kartal on March 18, 2009, 04:12 AM

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.

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...

cmpm · « **Reply #14 on:** March 19, 2009, 03:33 PM »

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.

CarpeAnnum · « **Reply #15 on:** March 31, 2009, 10:14 AM »

If you use FireFox you may check Zotero http://www.zotero.org/

kartal · « **Reply #16 on:** March 31, 2009, 02:34 PM »

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.

Quote from: cmpm on March 19, 2009, 03:33 PM

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.

kartal · « **Reply #17 on:** March 31, 2009, 02:35 PM »

Hi

I will give it a go for second time. I might have mixed with another application, sorry about that.

Quote from: aignes on March 19, 2009, 12:02 PM

Quote from: kartal on March 18, 2009, 04:12 AM
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.

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...

kartal · « **Reply #18 on:** March 31, 2009, 07:54 PM »

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.

Quote from: aignes on March 19, 2009, 12:02 PM

Quote from: kartal on March 18, 2009, 04:12 AM
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.

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...

rjbull · « **Reply #19 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:11 PM »

Quote from: kartal on March 31, 2009, 07:54 PM

And it is not very cheap application either at least for my wallet.

kartal, you just missed the March 2009 DC discount, 30% on LWA!

kartal · « **Reply #20 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:13 PM »

Actually that sounded good. I had around 30$ budget for this kind of application.

mouser · « **Reply #21 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:30 PM »

march is not over yet -- it's still running

kartal · « **Reply #22 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:56 PM »

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.

iphigenie · « **Reply #23 on:** April 01, 2009, 09:25 AM »

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

rjbull · « **Reply #24 on:** April 01, 2009, 09:35 AM »

Quote from: kartal on March 31, 2009, 08:56 PM

Btw does it have a firefox addon? I was looking for a convenient solution as well.

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.