Expert’s Rating
Pros
Cons
Our Verdict
If using the Web for research is part of your bookman , hobby , or body of work lifetime , Softchaos ’ Webstractor 1.5.3 is one cyberspace utility you should own . This upgrade lets users collect and edit World Wide Web page with less movement and more efficiency than the former version (; November 2004 ) . The programme now allows you to automatically download update variant of entanglement varlet you ’ve already gathered and adds a handy new hunting mapping .
Webstractor ’s internet browser - like port permit you capture and redact entire entanglement pages ( include text , image , standard , and chart ) and saves group of page within a individual Webstractor papers . If you ’re search a matter , you’re able to cumulate Web document about your subject and regard all those pages together , even if you are not on-line .
Because Webstractor has a built - in field that links you to Google ( as well as other major hunt engines ) , you’re able to do all your enquiry in Webstractor , without launching another browser app . you could also drag and drop URLs into Webstractor from any web browser .
Automated capture and search
When I review the first reading of Webstractor last year , I was instill by its versatility and ease of habit . The new adaptation adds powerful new capabilities , including an automate update feature article call Radar and young keyword - search capabilities .
Radar , which automatically download update versions of captured Web pages , works well : merely check a box next to each uniform resource locator to switch Radar on or off . Among other predilection , you may program Webstractor to automatically update only those page that hold in sealed keywords .
Webstractor also has the power now to quickly look for all of your saved page by keyword . It took a fraction of a second for Webstractor to lean each pageboy that contained a keyword ; I was then able to separate by rank or ensue . A collapsible drawer holds search results or thumbnail preview of enchant pages . The hunt feature is quite elegant : When I clicked on a search termination , for example , Webstractor expose the page with the keyword highlighted .
The program also has a helpful contextual menu item that allow you add together pages to Webstractor directly from Apple ’s Safari or The OmniGroup ’s OmniWeb , even when Webstractor is not open . I ’d like to see a contextual carte item for Mozilla ’s Firefox , and even Internet Explorer . Softchaos says it ’s considering adding bill of fare item for other popular web browser .
Edit functions
you may condition a box to make any Web varlet editable , and there is a variety of editing mapping available , including the power to change typefaces or colours , remove page backgrounds , and resize and crop pages .
you may also drag and throw off Microsoft Word , Rich Text Format , TIFF , and JPEG files into Webstractor ’s universal resource locator entry list in Edit mode .
PDF and CSS
There are a mates of snags when make out with PDFs in Webstractor . The programme can download PDF files , but if you are using Acrobat 7 , you must unselect the Display PDF in internet browser Using … choice in Acrobat ’s druthers , or it will trigger an alarum in Webstractor — not a huge problem . There ’s another matter with PDF Indian file , though : Webstractor will not let you alter them in Edit modality .
However , this interpretation does permit you store your written document as PDF files so you could share your Webstractor research with hoi polloi who do not have the programme . And that is very convenient .
A more vexing issuing is way the programme , in Edit modality , give sealed Web pages progress with complex CSS layout . Switching from Browse to Edit mode can produce a all-inclusive range of resultant role , from change a page slenderly to making it unreadable . Softchaos says the Show / obscure Background selection , usable in Edit modality , is the just workaround . The caller design to fix its CSS implementation in future release of the software .
Macworld’s buying advice
I wondered how Softchaos could improve Webstractor , and variation 1.5.3 gave me the solution . The programme is even more useful and automated than the premature version , without sacrifice any of its simplicity and ease of utilisation . While Webstractor still has some rocky edges , it nonetheless works quickly and well in help you find what you ’re look for on the Web , and keeping course of the information afterward . I urge it highly .
