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I just discovered the site of Phillip Mendonça-Vieira who has inadvertantely taken a screenshot of the NYT twice an hour for the last year.

Anyone know how one could do this? I think it's a fantastic 'accident' he came up with. Just the basic idea would be great — I don't really know how you might even do this at the moment.

Thanks!

Terry

saltcod
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  • What operating system are you on? Is there a reason this is tagged as php or was that just an accident? – EdoDodo Jul 19 '11 at 15:15

4 Answers4

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Look at this: Website screenshots using PHP

You can use HTMLTOPS to render it to ps file, and then convert it to .jpg, .png, or something like, or you can use wkhtmltopdf. It uses Webkit.

You can link it with any free cron jobs, e.g. http://www.setcronjob.com/

Here is a tutorial for wkhtmltopdf: http://www.codediesel.com/php/taking-screenshots-of-websites-in-php/

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m4tx
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  • Perfect. Thanks a million for the help. I'll likely try and get in touch with the guy. Great idea. – saltcod Jul 19 '11 at 15:37
  • This was forever ago, but I actually wrote about my whole process: http://okayfail.com/2011/howto-timelapse-nytimes.html – phillmv Oct 22 '13 at 17:31
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According to his reply on Hacker News, he used wkhtmltopdf, which I agree is an absolutely amazing library.

phillmv 11 hours ago | link | parent | flag

I used http://wkhtmltopdf.org/ . It's an amazing project that I try to use as often as possible, especially whenever a client requires pdfs.

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enobrev
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Just ask the guy for his script. (Via Twitter, Facebook, etc.)

Evan Mulawski
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You may look at the questions previously asked here:

Website screenshots using PHP

How can I take a screenshot of a website with PHP and GD?

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Arend
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