14 DAY TRIAL // Have you ever thought how much space the Internet would take if it were to be downloaded? A lot? That's too little. What if you zip it? But can you zip the Internet? Of course you can, but what's the use if you will never have it all? The Internet is a living organism that is continually changing. Nobody knows a thing about its longevity.
We know that every computer owner that connects the machine to the Internet enters a different world, where you can have access to almost everything.
WebZIP is a Spidersoft software designed to download and archive websites. The software costs $40 and the version we are reviewing is trial (15 days). The space the installation file requires on your hard disc is no more than 1.34MB. Don't let this fool you as you can download "tons" of GB with it. So brace yourselves.
In order to use this software, the user must check with his/her machine to see if they are compatible. The application requires a Pentium II or higher CPU, 64 MB of RAM, Windows OS (98/ME/NT4/2000 or XP), IE 5 or above, 10MB of free space on your HDD and a 256 color display or better.
The interface is great looking and very easy to use, all you have to do is click on the New Project button (under File menu) and type in the URL of the page you want to download. Of course, this is the beginning, as you also have to define a save folder for the website, choose a download method, the file types you want and, if you do not want to begin the download immediately, you can always schedule it. Click the "Run Now" button and the download should proceed shortly.
The View menu is a little special as it contains the Options submenu. Here the user can make the general settings, performance settings (delay between downloads, parsing speed, task saving), connection settings (we all know that this type of software can be registered as some kind of threat, and that's why you can choose the software to be seen as WebZIP, Anonymous or Mozilla/Internet Explorer), proxy servers and the default folder for saving the website.
WebZIP has a built in web browser and in the Browser menu you can take a look at some options that are strictly browser related. You can open pages in tabs (also have the shortcuts defined), set the elements that you want to load in a web page (images, sounds, videos, run ActiveX, Java applets and scripts). In Browser speed option menu the user can set the maximum connections per server (between 1 and 50).
In this menu there is the Internet Option menu, where you can make all the settings for a web browser (security, privacy, content, connections, programs, etc.). Keep in mind that the Internet settings applied in WebZIP will also take effect in your default web browser and vice-versa.
The last menu in the menu bar is the Project one. Here the user can manage the projects s/he has saved on the hard disk and also begin downloading new ones. If the Internet connection is no longer available just open WebZIP and begin surfing your favorite websites offline (after downloading them first).
Zipping your websites is easy, as long as you have FAR installed on your computer. Just click on the Export button (under Project menu) and off you go.
The tabs at the button of the window will help you visualize the downloading process. You can see the pages you have saved on your computer, the currently downloading project and its progress; the user can explore the website content as it was saved on the computer (each file that is part of that website).
The use of templates makes the website downloading task easier because the user can choose to download only the information that is absolutely necessary. Many such types of software do not have this option and this is why with WebZIP you can download faster. The user can create his/her own template in File>New Project>Download Method.
The Good
The software allows you to download the websites you need and then surf them offline. The user can archive the websites in order to save space on the hard disk.
WebZIP supports multiple downloads and the user can create templates to brush up the content of the website and take only the necessary.
You can use it as a regular Internet browser and surf the Web both online and offline. FAR application (provides compression services in WebZIP - ZIP and HTML) is free for WebZIP users.
The Bad
I downloaded a very small website and I couldn't surf it offline. Not all the links were established (and they were not external).
The online Help menu did not seem to me such a great idea, because not all the users will attempt downloading it on their hard disc to get familiar with the software. And not all of them are so diligent as to read it before downloading websites by themselves.
The online Help needs a little updating as it has not been changed since the 4.0 version and some users may become a little confused.
I wish the FAR application were a built-in feature and the users did not have to download it separately.
The Truth
The software is great; it has proxy settings, custom download settings, download scheduling etc. I am sure the problems mentioned at The Bad section (except for the Help menu related) were not caused by the software as I have downloaded some other websites and I encountered absolutely no problems.
The price will almost always be an issue to me and unfortunately this software will make no exception. $40 seems to me a little too much. Of course, this is my own point of view as I have never needed software like that.
But I guess the 15 day trial period will be enough for you to decide whether to buy it or not.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
