Saving Web pages in IE 5.5

[larkspur]

I'd like to understand more about saving Web pages, and a search of IE's help files on my computer and at Microsoft Web site hasn't helped me, so I'm hoping someone here could take the trouble to answer my query.

I've been saving web pages for some time now. When I don't need the graphic stuff I choose "Web Page, HTLM only." If I want the whole thing I save as "Web Page, complete." The other day I got curious about what "Web Archive, single file" provides. I think I've figured out that this is the same as "Web Page, complete" except that it's saved as a single file (obviously) without the separate folder that contains the .gifs etc.

My question is: What criteria should I be using for choosing Archive over the first choice, Complete? Complete allows me to go into the graphics folder and get rid of ads that I don't want flashing at me when I open a saved Web page, but it still leaves me with the rather cumbersome filing fact of two files listed separately and the need to always remember to hunt for the separate folder when I delete a file. Could someone please fill me in a little?

A second question which I don't think there's a fix to: Is there any way I can make "Web Page, HTLM only" be the top item in the list so I don't always have to click and scroll down to it (since it's the category I use most often)?

Finally, a third, somewhat arcane question is this: If I need to change the name of the .htm portion of a complete saved file I can do so, no problem. But I've found that if I attempt to rename the associated folder to the same changed name, I cannot. If I do, the contents in that folder get lost. Why is this?

Thanks in advance to anyone kind enough to respond...

 

[paulwood]

Answers (I hope!);

1. I think the mht format for archive files is Microsoft only, so if you would want to open in any other browser, you probably can't. Also the paths to the graphics files are not altered (see answer 3)

2. No, I don't think this is possible, though I'd like to be proved wrong!

3. When it is saved, IE changes the paths for the graphic files in the htm file to point to the new folder it has created. If you wanted to change the folder, you would have to manually edit the htm file to make sure the graphics show up.

Hope this helps

 

[reghakr]

Larkspur,

1. From IE help:
To save a Web page on your computer

On the File menu, click Save As.
Double-click the folder you want to save the page in.
In the File name box, type a name for the page.
In the Save as type box, select a file type.
Do one of the following:
To save all of the files needed to display this page, including graphics, frames, and style sheets, click Web Page, complete. This option saves each file in its original format.

To save all of the information needed to display this page in a single MIME-encoded file, click Web Archive. This option saves a snapshot of the current Web page. This option is available only if you have installed Outlook Express 5 or later.

To save just the current HTML page, click Web Page, HTML only. This option saves the information on the Web page, but it does not save the graphics, sounds, or other files.
To save just the text from the current Web page, click Text Only. This option saves the information on the Web page in straight text format.

Notes

With Web Page, complete and Web Archive, you can view all of the Web page offline, without adding the page to your Favorites list and marking it for offline viewing.
When you choose Web Page, complete, only the current page is saved.

2. Hi Paul Proved wrong... close.

Backup the registry and/or export the following keys:
go to Start>Run, type regedit. Navigate to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Infodelivery\Restrictions

You'll need to create the abobve keys if they don't exist. Thn right-click on the Restrictions key, choose new>DWOIRD value, name it NoBrowserSaveWebComplete. Right-click on that, choose modify and type in the number 1. This will remove Save As... Web Page Complete, leaving Web Page (HTML Only) as the top item in the list.

3. Paul's exactly right.

reghakr

 

[paulwood]

Hi reg,

No cigar huh? Oh well, I knew you would probably come up with something in the registry

 

[larkspur]

Thank you both for your quick replies.

I had in fact already read what was contained in the IE help files re. saving web pages. I was just trying to get a clearer picture of why someone more expert than myself would choose Archive over Complete, or vise versa.

It occurs to me that Archive has only just become available to me, as I did not obtain Outlook Express 5 until recently when I signed on with an ISP that uses Outlook. So even if it was in my drop down menu (which I cannot recall if was the case or not) I realize nothing would have happened had I clicked on it when I first got my computer.

This to reghakr: If I remove "Save as Web page, complete" in the manner you instructed, that means I won't be able to save in that way at all, correct? I don't want to get rid of the option permanently. I just did not want the nuisance of always having to scroll down to my preferred choice. There are instances where one can re-arrange the order of things...that's why I asked.

Again, thanks for your responses.

 

[reghakr]

Larkspur,

Yes it will removethe option. I would suggest making an undo.reg by open Notepad and copy and paste the following between the lines and save the file as exefix.reg. Double-click on the file to merge the contents into the registry.

===================BEGIN CUT======================
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Infodelivery\Restrictions]
"NoBrowserSaveWebComplete"=dword:00000000
======================END CUT======================

And I believe you're right about the Web Archine, because it pertains to Mime-encoded file.

reghakr

 

[larkspur]

It occurs to me that I have a tangental question in reference to saving Web page based purely upon curiosity.

In the Save As window there's a drop-down menu under something called "Encoding." Is there anyone out there who can point me to a dummies' explanation of the different encoding formats and why it is set on "Western European [Windows]" in my window?

As ever, thanks.

 

[paulwood]

The different formats use different character encoding to cope with the number of characters used in each language. You have the default set as "Western European [Windows]" since that is the encoding that deals with English and non-Cyrillic European languages in Windows. This is because Windows uses a slightly extended character set, including copyright symbols and some others that are not included in the International Standards Organisation encoding. Thus the default is not set for ISO. If you were to view an English page in Windows with a different encoding, either a different language or a different standard, it would make no sense. Because Windows supports other languages, they are on the dropdown list.

I don't know whether that helps or not, but this link

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/charset.html

from the W3.org no less, describes this in more (technical) detail, and this link

http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Software/Globalization/Character_Encoding/

gives a list of follow up sites if you have nothing to do for an hour or so

With regards to why Archive versus Complete, beats me, though I guess it takes up less space.

 

[larkspur]

Thank you Paulwood,

The first link you sent me to explained more than I need to know about encoding... although what you wrote in your post actually answered the question I had in mind, namely why the default is set at Western European rather than something like Unicode.

I appreciate your being willing to educate the ignorant.

(Now I still need you over in my Cookies query -- you were going to explain to me how to copy cookies I want to keep somewhere where they will be readable to the Web sites that need them. The ones that I've saved in the Windows\Cookies folder don't seem to communicate with the Internet world.)