Save a Web Page to a PDF
You might occasionally want to have a saved version of a web page for offline viewing. Perhaps you want to use it in a classroom that has no internet access, or perhaps you want to just save a version because you know the page might change in the future. You may know that you can save a web page using your browser’s “File -> Save” option. This saves a version that can be viewed in a web browser, but there are a lot of extra files (the page’s images). A better option might be to save it to a PDF, a single file with all of the images built-in that anyone can open and view. PDFMyURL does exactly that. Give it a try: PDFMyURL
Save YouTube Videos and Website Screenshots
At our school, as it probably is at many schools, YouTube is blocked. So what do you do if you want to show a video that you found on YouTube in class? Well, there are lots of options, but the most straighforward is to save that video to a file on your computer so you can watch it any time (or anywhere) you want. Even more generally, what if you want to show a webpage that you can’t access at school, or embed a picture of that webpage into a Powerpoint? Again, you can save a screenshot of that webpage to a file on your computer. But how?
This is where my handy dandy bookmarklets come into play. A bookmarklet is like a regular web bookmark, except that it has a little program written into it (in the web programming language called JavaScript) to do various tasks. You don’t need to install anything. Here are the two bookmarklets:
Remember, these are not ordinary bookmarks, they are little programs written in a language that your web browser understands. Here’s how to use them:
- Click the above links, and find the bookmarklets (update: sorry, WordPress prevents me from posting the bookmarklets directly)
- Use your mouse to drag the bookmarklet links to your web browser’s bookmarks.
- Go to the YouTube page that has the video you want.
- Click on the “Download YouTube Video” bookmarklet in your browser’s bookmarks.
- A small link is created in the user’s profile box called “Download as MP4″.
- Click that link to save the video!
The “Save Webpage Screenshot” is similar, except it takes you to another website (called Aviary) that captures a screenshot of the website you’re currently on and allows you to do some simple editing before you save it to your desktop computer.
By the way, the YouTube video that you save will be in a particular video format (called H.264 MP4). This is pretty much the standard computer video format these days. It’s compatible with iPods, PSPs, and more. If you’re on a Mac, Quicktime should be able to play these video files. If you’re on a PC, either install Quicktime or the awesome VLC video player in order to play them.
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