Offline browsers are pretty cool applications – they can give you just a little more control over the Internet.
With an offline browser you can download websites ,or parts of a website, store locally, and then view the saved site at your convenience, while offline. If you’re on a dial-up Internet connection, you can add cost saving to the convenience factor – once the site is downloaded, you can disconnect.
Fresh WebMaster, the developers of the highly recommended Fresh UI Windows tweaking application, have just released Fresh WebSuction, a free offline browser application that’s worth considering if offline browsing is your thing.
The user interface is simply, and straightforward, as the screen capture illustrates:
Create a new project by clicking the “New” button on tool bar or choose “File |New Project” from the main menu.
Enter the URL in the address field and change the Project Name and Level setting if necessary, all other Properties information will be set by default.
Click the Run Now button, to start the download.
That’s it!
To view the downloaded files offline:
Open the application.
From the Project Content tree select the file that you want to view and double-click it, or right-click then select “Open”.
Or, from Download List tab right-click on any file then select “Open”.
The screen capture below, shows the results of opening “Test 2”, for offline viewing.
Fast facts:
Download and save an entire Website.
Download and save particular sections of a Website.
Download up to 50 files simultaneously, thus large amounts of information can be retrieved in very little time.
View saved web content offline.
File types: HTML, Images,Audio,Video,Documents,Archived,User-defined and others.
File extensions : htm, html, shtm, shtml, htms, htmlx, asp, pl, stm, stml,idc, htx, xsp, xml, cfm, cgi, htmp, php, php3, nsf, jsp, aspx.
System requirements: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000, Me
Download at: Fresh WebMaster (registration required).
Are you into Linux? If you are, then checkout Webhttrack, a free (GPL), easy-to-use offline browser utility.
Note: You can of course, save individual web pages for offline viewing, by using the File – Save Page As function, in your Browser.
As an alternative, if you’re a Firefox user, you might consider ScrapBook, a Firefox addon which is designed to save both web pages, and sites.
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Bill Mullins' Weblog - Tech Thoughts 
Hey Bill,
Very nice find. Useful for me.. 🙂
But one thing i wonder what if it downloads malcode and they get executed accidentally… What’re the security measures in this regard?
Hey Ranjan,
Excellent question!
Let’s be clear – if you download malware, you better hope your AVs are capable of stopping it from executing (accidentally, or otherwise). The reality is though, if you land on a site with hidden malware, it will attempt to execute before you download the site/page, with a capture application.
If you’re really concerned that you might somehow become infected, then I suggest that you filter any file type that is script capable (.asp, for example).
Bill
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Hi Bill.
Sounds like a really cool app. I can think of lots of ways this can save me time so I’ll check it out.
Thanks.
Liam
Hey Liam,
That’s exactly why I use this type of app occasionally – to save some time.
Thanks for dropping in.
Bill
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