5 replies to this topic

[ec-plus]

Hello,

I have a number of websites that I visit, could anybody recommend any software that would alert me to the fact that the content has been updated or changed?

Many thanks,

ec-plus

[qwerty]

Here's something I used to do: if you're using IE (or "Ayeeeeee!" as a friend of mine calls it), bookmark the page, then go to the properties of the bookmark.

Check the "make this page available offline" box and click Apply.

Go to the Schedule tab (which will appear when you tick the checkbox) and set up a schedule for checking it.

Go to the Download tab, check the "When this page changes..." box and fill in your email information.

This will cause your browser to check the page based on the schedule you set up, and send you an email when it finds a change.

[torka]

You might want to try ChangeDetection.com. You enter the URLs you want to monitor and it will notify you via e-mail every time there's a change. From what they say, it works on any web page, whether the Webmaster uses their service or not. BTW, it's free.

They also have a panel that Webmasters can add to pages they want to encourage people to monitor. All the site visitors have to do is enter their e-mail address and ChangeDetection will add them to the list. It will also allow you to exclude portions of the page from being monitored (so, for instance, it will tell people when the page content has changed, but not when you make changes to the site menu or swap out a graphic.) And it will send you an e-mail telling you how many people have been notified when a change has been made.

Downside is, AFAIK, you have no access to the contact info of the people who have opted to monitor your page, so it's no use in building up a mailing list or anything like that. But for allowing people to quickly and easily monitor pages in your site for changes, it's easy to set up.

I use it on the schedule page of the Website for a blues band. Their fan club runs an online e-mail discussion group, so neither the band members nor I want the hassle of running a separate mailing list -- so the Change Detection panel was just what we needed.

Hope this helps!

==Torka

[qwerty]

Oh, and how could I forget TrackEngine

[Jill]

That is one neat trick, Qwerty!

Very cool....

Jill

[printerbase]

We use a peice of software called Website Watcher, very powerful lets you exclude certain phrases, highlights changes etc..

Have a look at http://www.aignes.com/

Peter