Web page to image file?

[Andilinks]

Does anyone know of a software that will convert web pages to image files? I've found several (and a Firefox extension) that will do this one file at a time, where the file must be opened manually to do the conversion, and I know I could combine these with macros to accomplish this in a very a clunky way, but it seems to me there should be a program that will just input a list of files or URL's and output a directory full of images...

I'd like shareware to try, but I certainly will buy such a program if it exists.

I think I found one for the Mac, but I'm not ready to buy a whole new computer just yet to do this one task.

Thanks in advance.

Andi

[skellam]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing your looking for . . . but here is a Python script that will extract all jpg images from any given URL and will follow links on the site and download from these pages as well. It's free to download and use.

http://web.mit.edu/pgbovine/www/software.htm#ImageHarvester

You'd also have to download the free GNU Wget software for this to work.

[Andilinks]

Not sure if this is the kind of thing your looking for . . .No, it's not. I want an image of the entire web page not just the images from the web page. Actually I want to make thumbnails of web pages and so don't really need "below the fold" but could process globally, I just can't find an application to harvest. But thanks.

Andi

[Bob]

Andi,

I heard of this application sometime ago, never had an opportunity to check it out but it appears to create exactly what you want however i am not sure about the Auto aspect of it...
http://www.digitaldutch.com/arles/tutorials/website_galleries/

-Bob

[Andilinks]

Yes, this is what I want and I'm amazed that it is not used more widely.

This produces a thumbnail of every web page (and every image incidentally) in any local directory which is the functionality that I initially want.

My XP Windows Explorer did this with View > Thumbnails but lost this capability after one of the Windows updates. For one thing this is very useful for checking directories full of pages for gross errors and that was my first need of it but I will also use it to produce thumbnail mouseover popups for my (online) directory--similar to the ask.com binocular feature.

I'm very tempted to buy this ($49.) application on the first day of the 30 day trial but I should probably test it some more.

Thanks Bob!

Andi

[Andilinks]

...but I should probably test it some more.That was a good idea, it has some limitations which make it useless for me though it may be good for a hobby site. I need to rent-a-coder.

[Bob]

Too bad first impressions didn't work out :(

Good luck in your search,
Bob

[Andilinks]

Good news, the Arles developer says he will build the functionality I need into the next beta. It remains to be seen how well this will work, I may need a custom bot anyway.

[Jeff]

I use http://html2jpg.com/ to do this.

[Andilinks]

I just downloaded the enterprise trial version, it looks to be exactly what I need, but at that price and with the experience I just had with Arles I'll certainly have to be fully operational with it before I buy.

Thanks Jeff! :)

An interesting sidebar: many Google (and other) searches on key phrases failed to find either Arles or html2jpg. It's not like I don't understand search, I spend nearly all my hours *using search* to build a directory that works.

Though I would have found this in the dmoz or Google directory at:

Computers > Software > Shareware > Windows > Graphics > Converters

The flaw in my particular searches in this instance was that I searched on "image file" and not any of the precise word pairing in: "HTML2JPG, Utility to convert HTML files to JPG or BMP images"I suppose the fact that HTML2JPG home page is ranked zero by Google didn't help...

Sorry to bore everyone with this but I've spent the last four years thinking about this very problem and yet was stymied by it when the circumstance arrived in my own life. Search technology is still in its infancy...

[Andilinks]

The situation continues to complicate. HTML2JPG operates with MS Access or MySQL but evidently not with my current Access97 version, so the whole project waits for the purchase of a later version of Access or my installing and learning MySql, or some third yet undiscovered path...

Fortunately I have a lot of other projects that are moving forward.

[Jeff]

I bought the personal version and used it to generate thumbnails by copying and pasting into the batch window a simple deliniated list along the lines of
1|url1
2|url2
which then creatd 1.jpg and 2.jpg and so-on. Simple and to the point, but still requringing the manual step.

I'd really like to automate it totally, but I think for that I would need a windows dedicated server so that when someone adds their site to my directory the thumbnail can be created in realtime vs. every x-days, and that gets costly since I don't have any other use for a windows dedicated server right now :)

[Andilinks]

Simple and to the point, but still requringing the manual step.I think I may do this with just my most popular pages which will be several hundred thumbnails and not the tens of thousands I require for my entire site.

I think I would be able to automate the many thousands if only the HTML2JPG .mdb file would open with Access 97 or if HTML2JPG would accept my .mdb file generated by Access 97. They both use the same file extension so my best guess is that I need a later version of Access, and I think I'll wait for the whole Office 12/Vista package before I upgrade that. So unless something else turns up I'll be adding thumbnails a few at a time--which may not be so bad because it will give me more time to integrate them into the site design, I may ultimately redesign the pages.

I can also put off buying the enterprise version until after I upgrade Access (and with a new OS, I'll be able to try the enterprise evaluation copy again to be sure it works with the newer Access). It's just one more thing complicating my switch to Macintosh.

Thanks again Jeff.

Andi

[Andilinks]

The personal version works better than I expected.

I downloaded the personal version of HTML2JPG and purchased it right away so I can get started using undefaced thumbnails.

There doesn't seem to be a limit to the size of the URL batch that can be pasted into the batch input, I pasted in hundreds of lines. Since I can export and preprocess the URLs in Word using Word macros the $40. personal edition will work every bit as well for me as the $250. enterprise edition using Access. I can auto-name the image files with the database ID#, it couldn't be slicker...

Expect thumbnails to begin appearing on andilinks.com this coming week! I guess this means my bandwidth bill will be skyrocketing. :)

Andi

[Andilinks]

Well, I don't expect anyone but me to be excited about my new format with thumbnails but I do have the first six listings done by hand on this page (http://www.andilinks.com/designers.shtm).

And tomorrow when I get the registration number for the HTML2JPG I'll do the rest. Thanks again for indulging me with this project. :)

[DogAndPony]

Kewl, Andi! (See, someone else might be excited after all!) :smile:

So, are you going to do every link, or just the most popular, or...?

Am I wrong in thinking that Alexa does thumbs for just the top sites/most popular searches? Haven't been there lately.

Lotsa work!

[Andilinks]

...or just the most popular...Thanks for the kind words Bob. :) I will begin with the most popular women's wear pages and continue until 420 pages are done. There are about 100 pages in an old (2003) format that won't ever be done but I leave them online because they still get some traffic and a few paid clicks.

Actually with this software it won't be that hard, the image file name will automatically be the database record ID so once all the thumbnails are uploaded all I have to do is rewrite the program that converts the Access the database to HTML. Then upload... It should be finished in a few weeks, except for a few stragglers...

Alexa finally updated the Andilinks thumbnail recently after using the same one for over three years. I think they make t'nails for everything ranking under 100,000.

Domain Tools (http://whois.domaintools.com/thoughtnozzle.com) makes the best thumbnails.

Andi

[DogAndPony]

Actually with this software it won't be that hard, the image file name will automatically be the database record ID so once all the thumbnails are uploaded all I have to do is rewrite the program that converts the Access the database to HTML. Then upload... It should be finished in a few weeks, except for a few stragglers...What DO those folks who can't script do? (Oh, wait... my scripting sucks, so I guess I'm one of those people, too.) :smile:Alexa finally updated the Andilinks thumbnail recently after using the same one for over three years.Oy!I think they make t'nails for everything ranking under 100,000.Ah... Huh. Just looked for my site, and the thumb images are broken. Not very pretty...
Domain Tools (http://whois.domaintools.com/thoughtnozzle.com) makes the best thumbnails.Now that's an attractive website. :wink:

And yeah, DT's very helpful... As long as their new nameserver monitoring service doesn't start monitoring WHOIS lookups!

[Andilinks]

What DO those folks who can't script do? (Oh, wait... my scripting sucks, so I guess I'm one of those people, too.) We (count me in) write very kludgy abominations that would make those who write elegant scripts wretch. We keep our work away from public places and totally ignore the hoots and snickers of those who know that our programs take way too many seconds and way too many iterations to execute.

Those coders think they could do our jobs as well as we do theirs, but we know how clueless they are about that. They don't know how hard it is to do what we do well, mostly they've never tried it or even know what "it" is.

Human beings, no matter how bright, simply don't have enough capacity in their puny little brains to know how handicapped they really are.

To me the greatest challenge is to bridge the gaps between hardware, software and wetware. Finding the weakest links between them and making gravy where no one else has thought to look is what I hope to do best. That, not coding, is my specialty and I dare not use too much wetware to do things that Phd's in China and India can do for twelve dollars a day.

So my scripts suck, but sometimes they work in spite of this drawback. And that is good enough. :)

Andi

[DogAndPony]

We (count me in) write very kludgy abominations that would make those who write elegant scripts wretch.So my scripts suck, but sometimes they work in spite of this drawback. And that is good enough. :)My sentiments exactly. :yeah:

[Andilinks]

Just so I'm not misunderstood, I do admire the work of good programmers and when I *really* need something done right I will hire one.

But in an era of superfast processors and very cheap storage, elegance isn't so important--as Microsoft has proven in spades. :)

[Randall]

So my scripts suck, but sometimes they work in spite of this drawback. And that is good enough. As a writer I used to work for would say, good enough is all you need. Duct-tape scripts can be the most cost-efficient solution if you place a value on your time. I know I'm guilty of enough of them. :winky:

Randall

[Andilinks]

Duct-tape scripts can be the most cost-efficient solution if you place a value on your time.Well, I spent the afternoon rewriting and documenting a VBA script that I haven't looked at in over a year (but use every day) and I do want to say that coders deserve more respect than they get...

And I'm pleased to say that Andilinks (the web site) will have 90% thumbnails in two weeks, right on schedule. :)

[Andilinks]

...I'm pleased to say that Andilinks (the web site) will have 90% thumbnails in two weeks, right on schedule. :)On schedule, while 90% of the pages are not finished, more than than 90% of my women's wear visitors see thumbnails now. I'm seeing an increase in return visits and time spent on the site. Thumbnail images are one of the best improvements Andilinks (the web site) has ever seen.

HTML2JPG works great, but I had to buy Corel's PSPX to batch process them.

PSP is still a great program, but I think Jasc was a better company than Corel... Oh well, things change.

Andi