Saving Webpages for Offline Browsing

Like many of you, I love finding new stuff on the Internet. However, you can’t spend your entire time online. Wouldn’t be nice to save a copy of an interesting webpage on your computer for offline reading? Well, you are in luck, there are several ways available not only for Internet Explorer but for Firefox and Opera web browser as well. Let’s start with Internet Explorer (IE) first.

Internet Explorer 6.0 is the latest stable version available. IE 7 is currently in beta testing. Recently, Microsoft acquired Onfolio, a company specializing in creating tools to conduct research on the Internet. Onfolio allows users to capture parts of a webpage or the entire webpage. Users can then annotate what they captured. Onfolio can create folders and subfolders to categorize your data. It really is a fantastic tool for serious researching on the Internet. In a rare moment of generosity, Microsoft has included Onfolio in their free Windows Live Toolbar beta. You heard right, it is totally free. Onfolio not only captures webpages, it is rss aggregator as well. Users can access the files offline. By default files are stored under Onfolio’s My Collection located in C:/Documents and Settings/<User Name>/My Documents.

Firefox 1.5.0.2 is the latest stable version. One of the greatest features of Firefox is its extensions. Slogger is an extension which allows users to save a copy of a webpage on to the hard drive. Users can save every webpage visited or only user selected webpages. Webpages can then be viewed offline. To get the most out of Slogger, users should install a desktop search tool. For example, I use Copernic Desktop Search application to index my hard drive, much like Google does on the Internet. The latter allows for quick and accurate searches. Also, Slogger can save webpages to Spurl, Furl and/or My Yahoo! The extension has many additional features. Thankfully, the author has an extensive tutorial on his website. Another Firefox extension with similar function is Scrapbook. Scrapbook allows users to cut and paste parts of a webpage. I like using Slogger more so than Scrapbook because Slogger with a single click saves the entire webpage, quick and simple.

Opera 8.54 is the latest stable version; however, Opera 9.0 beta is available for testing. An Opera enthusiast, Dmitry Antonyuk, created Obook plugin for Opera. Obook is still in beta testing; version 1.5 is available for download. The plugin is completely free and it works great. Obook adds itself to the Opera side panel and menu toolbar. Users simply click “Save to Obook” and the webpage is saved on to the hard drive. Obook allows you to create folders and subfolders to categorize the saved webpages.

In conclusion, Internet Explorer, Firefox and Opera web browsers each have methods to save web information for later offline viewing. For a better experience, try installing and using a desktop search applications.

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Easy Go Back

Mouse Gestures in Internet Explorer

Both Firefox and Opera web browsers offer mouse gestures. Mouse gestures allow users to navigate within the browser by way of mouse movements. Instead of using the navigation toolbar, you hold down one of the mouse buttons and move the mouse to navigate. For example, in Firefox, to have the browser go back a page, move the mouse to the left while holding down the left mouse button. It is a great feature, more for convenience than anything else. Among web browsers, there are two schools of thought. One prefers using the keyboard to navigate within the browser without the use of a mouse – using so-called keyboard shortcuts. The other prefers using a mouse and never having to touch the keyboard. Both schools of thought have their advantages and disadvantages. It is just a matter of personal preference.

As mentioned before, both Firefox and Opera offer mouse gesture. In the case of Firefox, you need to install the mouse gesture extension. However, Opera comes with mouse gesture already installed. Interestingly, Opera also allows users to navigate via voice commands. The feature is called appropriately “Voice.” It is not installed by default. Instead, you need to download and install a plugin.

Unfortunately, Internet Explorer (IE) does not have a mouse gesture feature. Microsoft does not have a plugin for IE and, to the best of my knowledge; it does not plan to include the feature in the upcoming IE 7. But, luckily there is a third party that has developed an application to add this feature to IE. And, more good news, the application is totally free – no spyware or adware. UnH Solutions has developed Easy Go Back. Easy Go Back is a small program and it integrates into IE without any problems. Easy Go Back offers several mouse gestures, including: backward, forwards, refresh, stop and open a link in a new window. Easy Go Back comes with preset mouse gestures but users can configure different mouse gestures. It also allows users to add buttons of their own. Easy Go Back doesn’t only work with IE; it can also be used by IE shells (i.e. Avant Browser, Maxthon Browser).

Easy Go Back uses only 4,000 K of memory. It works best when it is set to start on startup. I have had no conflicts using Easy Go Back alongside any of the big GYM (Google, Yahoo and MSN) toolbars, Adobe plugin, Macromedia Flash and/or the SiteAdvisor.

Firefox:1.5.0.3:Overview - MozillaWiki

Firefox:1.5.0.3:Overview - MozillaWiki

This past week a new exploit was discovered for Firefox 1.5.0.2.  Secunia, a popular software security firm, labeled the exploit as not critical.  As worst, the exploit could be used to execute a denial of service attack.  Mozilla is not taking this lightly and plans to release a patch for Firefox soon.  Please refer to the above article for more details on the exploit.

BetaNews | Mozilla to Issue Firefox Security Fix

BetaNews | Mozilla to Issue Firefox Security Fix

It seems that Internet Explorer is not the only web browser that has been suffering from new exploits.  Mozilla confirms that a exploit has been found in Firefox 1.5.0.2, its latest stable version.  The exploit can cause a denial of service error.  Security firm Secunia labeled this as a non-critical exploit.  Mozilla is working on a patch for the exploit but did not give any hints as to when it will be ready. This is the second setback for Mozilla.   Earlier, Mozilla publicly announced that it will not be adding the new feature "Places" in the upcoming version 2.0, code named "Bon Echo."