[WEB4LIB] Re: screen capture help

[Richard Wiggins]

LOL, I think we're all jumping in with answers but I for one am not sure I fully understand the question.  So let me jump in with more answers... :-)

If, as the title of the message implies, it is a screen image that's desired, then Lview, or Paint Shop Pro, or just using the operating system capture and paste functions, all work reasonably well.  Someone mentioned Snag-it, which is a nice tool that does add control.

If it is the content of one page one wishes to capture, so as to be able to visit it offline in a browser and, for instance, scroll through the page, then the Save As feature in IE is fine.  I find the Save As / MHT option better than having the graphic files stored in the separate folder; this assumes you've got IE on the viewing end as well.

If it is an entire site one wishes to capture, someone proposed Blue Squirrel's Grab-a-Site.  Unless that product has improved greatly, I suggest exploring alternatives.  I spent many hours in December of last year trying to capture the entire White House site, and found that Grab a Site just didn't move fast enough.  Too late to complete the task, I found that Offline Explorer Pro from Metaproducts just SCREAMS, due to very effective parallel tasking.  See http://www.metaproducts.com/OEPR.html.  It was dramatically faster than Grab-a-Site.  (I have not compared the two since then; mileage may vary now.)

To answer Walt's question, offline browsers can grab an entire site, or a portion thereof, for archiving or for replay where you lack Internet connectivity or lack sufficient bandwidth.  They also try to adjust internal URL references so as to localize them.

If it is the experience of browsing the site one wishes to capture -- the video version of a static screen capture -- then I suggest Camtasia, from TechSmith, the same folks who offer SnagIt (who happen to reside about 3 miles from where I happen to be typing....)

Now, does one of these actually answer the original question?  :-)

/rich


On Wed, 14 November 2001, Walt_Crawford at notes.rlg.org wrote:

> 
> 
> Pardon my naivete, but can't you just use the browser itself to save pages
> (or sites) to disk, then use the browser to show them offline?
> 
> What does third-party software do that the browsers don't do directly?
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                                                                                                                              
>                     Christina Soderstrom                                                                                     
>                     <christina at highpointcre       To:     Multiple recipients of list <web4lib at webjunction.org>         
>                     ative.com>                    cc:                                                                        
>                     Sent by:                      Subject:     [WEB4LIB] Re: screen capture help                             
>                     web4lib at sunsite.berkele                                                                                  
>                     y.edu                                                                                                    
>                                                                                                                              
>                                                                                                                              
>                     11/14/2001 09:26 AM                                                                                      
>                     Please respond to                                                                                        
>                     christina                                                                                                
>                                                                                                                              
>                                                                                                                              
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nick and all,
> 
> I've used a program called Grab-a-Site by Blue Squirrel (about $70) to
> capture whole web sites and then show them later. The nice thing about it
> is that once you have captured the site, you don't need an Internet
> connection to show it, just the software installed on the computer.
> 
> Christina
> 
> At 09:13 AM 11/14/01 -0800, Tomaiuolo, Nicholas (Library) wrote:
> >Hello and thanks --
> >I have been using LView Pro to do screen captures -- it captures whatever
> is
> >on the desktop from the Web (or whatever else).  But lately I've noticed
> >that people are capturing entire Web pages for their presentations, etc.
> >Does anyone have any experience capturing entire pages for later use?
> >
> >Thanks again,
> >Nick
> >
> >Nicholas G. Tomaiuolo, MLS
> >Instruction Librarian
> >Elihu Burritt Library
> >Central Connecticut State University
> >New Britain, CT  06050
> >
> >860-832-2068 (office)
> >860-832-3409 (fax)
> 
> 
> Christina Soderstrom
> Senior Creative Associate/IT Specialist
> High Point Creative, LLC
> www.HighPointCreative.com
> Phone: 651-646-6353
> Fax: 651-646-6351

Richard Wiggins
Writing, Speaking, and Consulting on Internet Topics
rich at richardwiggins.com       www.richardwiggins.com