Sometimes there is no Internet access in a place where there is a need to show web pages. This is also called off-line browsing or viewing. This might happen on a classroom computer that is not connected to the Internet or at a conference which does not provide Internet access. This might also occur in a home that can afford a computer but cannot afford Internet access. However, software programs are available that can capture all or some portion of a web site and store in on a diskette, CD or some storage device for later viewing.
These programs ask a basic question of the user. How many levels deep should it capture of a web site? That is, if the home page has links to several pages on the web site, capturing the home page and those pages would be capturing two levels deep. If these secondary pages had links to pages on the site, then capturing those would be going 3 levels deep. Built in to the web browser called Internet Explorer under the Favorites command in the menu bar is an option to capture to 3 levels deep. To capture more levels and be automatically notified when any page is changed or to automatically make those updates would require other more expensive software programs.
A wide range of web site capture programs can be found. Such programs include: PageNest (free trial). See also WebWhacker or Web Miner and Google Directory's index to offline browsers.
Updated January 26, 2005 | Bob Houghton | Back