Web site caching software

On Apr 20, 2005, at 10:42 AM, martin weiss wrote:

> I am looking for software that will allow me to cache web
> sites on my computer. Yeas ago I recall using one but that was Mac
> systems and computers ago and long forgotten.

I recently archived a travel log that some friends took in the form of
a weblog. Used a program called PageSucker.

http://www.pagesucker.com

It downloaded all of the components (pages, styles sheets, graphics,
scripts, etc.) just fine. I had to go in and clean up a few messed up
links, but managed to create a fully working local replica of the blog.

Tn

martin weiss said:
>I am looking for software that will allow me to cache web
>sites on my computer. Yeas ago I recall using one but that was Mac
>systems and computers ago and long forgotten.

I've been using Web Devil ($35) for years, and I really like it. All
that you have to do is put in the URL of the site that you want to
download onto your hard drive and hit return.:
http://www.chaoticsoftware.com/ProductPages/WebDevil.html

However, you might first want to check out SiteSucker, because it is free
(donation requested):
http://www.sitesucker.us/

Randy B. Singer
Co-Author of: The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th and 6th editions)

Routine OS X Maintenance and Generic Troubleshooting
http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html

Squid is the most common one I have seen when researching this. If you
are not comfortable with installing software on the command line, then
take a look at SquidMan (squid is included)

"SquidMan is a MacOS X graphical installer and manager for the Squid
proxy cache. It is designed to operate as a "personal" proxy server."

<http://homepage.mac.com/adg/SquidMan/>

Squid itself is available from <http://www.squid-cache.org/>

I have never used it or installed it, but I looked into it for a client
and Squid was the best option.

Hope that helps!

Dave

martin weiss wrote:

> I am looking for software that will allow me to cache web
> sites on my computer. Yeas ago I recall using one but that was Mac
> systems and computers ago and long forgotten.

I'm not sure what you mean. "Caching" is usually used to indicate storing a
local copy of what you have fetched - something every Web browser does
(although not all of them make that cache easily accessible for mere mortals).

You might also mean "downloading an entire Web site for off-line browsing".

In either case, you should take a look at iCab. If the caching is what you're
looking for, iCab's cache folder is far less inaccessiable than that of for
example Safari or Internet Explorer. And iCab awill allow you to browse it by
going into "off-line mode". (If you 'click a link' pointing to something
that's not in cache, iCab will ask you if you want to go online to fetch it.)

iCab also has built-in download manager that allows you to fetch entire sites
and provides a lot of control over the details. For instance, you can set the
depth (subdirectories on the server) you're willing to traverse, what sort of
files you do and don't want, etc.

<http://www.icab.de> (The upcoming version 3 fixes the CSS/DOM issues that
the current release is plagued with.)

--
Sander Tekelenburg, <http://www.euronet.nl/~tekelenb/>

Why don't you look at Webstractor. I quote below an excerpt from their Help Page.

<http://db.tidbits.com/getbits.acgi?tbart=07739>

"The Browser

The main function of the Browser is to navigate through web pages. Web pages you browse within Webstractor are captured automatically into your document. Unlike other web browsers, clicking on an entry in your browser history in Webstractor will display the web page as it was when you visited it, without reloading it again from the web site. This is the case even if you save your document and re-open it later. This powerful feature allows you to research a particular topic on the internet and be sure that all of that information is available to you at a later date even if the original web pages change (or become unavailable) in the meantime. You don't even need to be connected to the internet to view your saved documents.

Webstractor can even store multiple versions of web pages that change over time.

The Editor

Whilst Webstractor's ability to capture and store web pages in the Browser is great, there are times when you want greater control over the appearance of the captured content. By transferring a web page to the Editor, you are able to quickly do the following: ▪ Remove unwanted text, adverts, graphics and backgrounds ▪ Reformat the text using your own fonts, sizes and colors ▪ Add your own content to the page ▪ Prepare multiple web pages for seamless printing ▪ Export your findings to cross-platform PDF files for sharing with non-Webstractor users

It is easy to transfer a web page to the Editor side. Whilst looking at it in the Browser just click the 'Start Editing' button. After a few moments you will be automatically transferred to the Editor and can start editing the web page using familiar word processing capabilities. And since you are working on a copy of the captured web page you can still go back to the original in the Browser and interact with it as a web page."

I can recommend the program as a satisfied user.

Derek Hayes