6 ms·

Show HN: Website Screenshots Made Easy

11 points by rezaman 15y ago

iamjustlooking 15y ago
Doesn't load external fonts from services like Google web fonts so it creates inaccurate screenshots for a lot of websites. An issue with QtWebkit, that is assuming this uses PhantomJS. example (quicksand font not loaded): http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/ac http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/ac http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Quicksand http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Quicksand
- rezaman 15y ago
  Thanks. I'll put it on the list. As for PhantomJS, I hadn't heard of it. I was originally rendering the screenshots with Selenium and the FirefoxDriver. They came out looking good, but performance was abysmal and when a page froze up I needed a mechanism to kill firefox manually. Now I'm using Wordpress's Mshots service, but I'm looking at a couple of python tools to generate headless screenshots.
- rezaman 15y ago
  I just got it working with PhantomJS and I must agree it does look a lot better. The problem with external fonts is still there so I'll have to crack open QtWebkit to see if we can't fix that.
rezaman 15y ago
I'm not sure how useful is for everyone else, but I always thought grabbing a screenshot of a url could be improved.
TreesCanCode 15y ago
http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/8i http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/8i
zacharycohn 15y ago
It failed when I tried to use it on www.timecube.com. That may have been a cruel first test, but I just wanted you to know. Otherwise, this is great. I was JUST looking for a tool to do this on Friday.
- rezaman 15y ago
  Yea, it's not quite polished just yet so you get the occasional failure to load a screenshot. I figured I'd gauge interest before dumping a bunch of time to clean up the edge cases. Also, I just did timecube and it looks like it's working for me: http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/b1 http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/b1
ArtemZ 15y ago
it takes really much time for it to take a screenshot
jusob 15y ago
It seems to be a popular idea this week-end: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3144066 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3144066 (Browshot.com)
pplante 15y ago
Have you looked into using: http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ I have used it on two projects in the past and found it very easy to use, but incredibly powerful. If you check it out, try out one of the more recent RC builds as they contain functionality the stable release does not.
chetan51 15y ago
What library are you using?
- rezaman 15y ago
  To grab the screenshots I'm using PhantomJS. The webapp itself is running on the Play framework though.
u48998 15y ago
lol, Ads!
lobster_johnson 15y ago
Renders fonts horrendously like I haven't seen in 5+ years. Is this produced on Linux with FreeType? Looks like you don't have TrueType hinting enabled. My first attempt didn't produce anything the first two minutes I waited. I assume it timed out. You may want to look into providing some kind of feedback if the queue is long, for example, so that I can adjust my expectations accordingly. (Although realistically, I'd never bother to use something that didn't produce an image within 5 seconds.)

11 points by rezaman 15y ago

Doesn't load external fonts from services like Google web fonts so it creates inaccurate screenshots for a lot of websites. An issue with QtWebkit, that is assuming this uses PhantomJS. example (quicksand font not loaded): http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/ac http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/ac http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Quicksand http://www.google.com/webfonts/specimen/Quicksand

rezaman 15y ago
Thanks. I'll put it on the list. As for PhantomJS, I hadn't heard of it. I was originally rendering the screenshots with Selenium and the FirefoxDriver. They came out looking good, but performance was abysmal and when a page froze up I needed a mechanism to kill firefox manually. Now I'm using Wordpress's Mshots service, but I'm looking at a couple of python tools to generate headless screenshots.
rezaman 15y ago
I just got it working with PhantomJS and I must agree it does look a lot better. The problem with external fonts is still there so I'll have to crack open QtWebkit to see if we can't fix that.

rezaman 15y ago

I'm not sure how useful is for everyone else, but I always thought grabbing a screenshot of a url could be improved.

TreesCanCode 15y ago

http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/8i http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/8i

zacharycohn 15y ago

It failed when I tried to use it on www.timecube.com. That may have been a cruel first test, but I just wanted you to know. Otherwise, this is great. I was JUST looking for a tool to do this on Friday.

rezaman 15y ago
Yea, it's not quite polished just yet so you get the occasional failure to load a screenshot. I figured I'd gauge interest before dumping a bunch of time to clean up the edge cases. Also, I just did timecube and it looks like it's working for me: http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/b1 http://instantscreenshot.com/screenshot/b1

ArtemZ 15y ago

it takes really much time for it to take a screenshot

jusob 15y ago

It seems to be a popular idea this week-end: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3144066 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3144066 (Browshot.com)

pplante 15y ago

Have you looked into using: http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ http://code.google.com/p/wkhtmltopdf/ I have used it on two projects in the past and found it very easy to use, but incredibly powerful. If you check it out, try out one of the more recent RC builds as they contain functionality the stable release does not.

chetan51 15y ago

What library are you using?

rezaman 15y ago
To grab the screenshots I'm using PhantomJS. The webapp itself is running on the Play framework though.

u48998 15y ago

lol, Ads!

lobster_johnson 15y ago

Renders fonts horrendously like I haven't seen in 5+ years. Is this produced on Linux with FreeType? Looks like you don't have TrueType hinting enabled. My first attempt didn't produce anything the first two minutes I waited. I assume it timed out. You may want to look into providing some kind of feedback if the queue is long, for example, so that I can adjust my expectations accordingly. (Although realistically, I'd never bother to use something that didn't produce an image within 5 seconds.)