Aarhus University Seal

Test Of Archiving Software - Grab

Back to main outline

Type

Name

Platform

Version

Price

URL

Notes

Screenshot

Grab

Mac OS X

1.2

Included with Mac OS X

-

aSt


Conclusion

Grab (Dk.: 'SkÊrmbillede') can photograph the entire screen image, regions or windows. It is also possible to photograph with a time delay. The utility archives satisfactorily, although it is not possible to choose the image format to archive in; archiving is done in the un-compressed TIFF format.


Recommended settings

The programme is found in the 'Applications/Utilities' folder, and is used by choosing either ësectioní (shift + option + a), 'window' (shift + option + w), 'screen' (option + z) or 'self-timer' (shift + option + z). A window will now open with the archived section of the screen, which must then be saved to the hard disk.


Archiving speed

Archiving time (min)

File size (MB)

Archiving  speed (MB/min)

Degree of presence required

Not tested

Not tested

Not tested

Not tested


Test details


Test date and time: Saturday October 30 2004, 4 p.m. - 4.15 p.m.

Tested by: Bo Hovgaard Thomasen

Tested by archiving: http://www.dr.dk/kroniken

Speed test carried out by archiving: http://www.dr.dk/nyheder/html/nyheder/Background† /tema2003/krise/index.jhtml

Test results

The following have been evaluated according to the following scale for the number of archived elements: 0=none, 1=few, 2=average, 3=most, 4=all

Structure

-aa

3

-aa

aa

Cascading Style Sheets

4

The archived material appears as defined in CSS

Page composition

4

Elements are correctly positioned on all archived web pages.

Backgrounds†

4

All backgrounds are archived

Pop-up windows

-

Pop-up windows are archived if they are present in the foreground of the screen image

Archiving of all desired web pages

2

The areas of a web page or pages shown in the foreground of the screen image are archived. Often only part of a web page can be archived.

Movement between elements in the structure

Link

0

aa

Print/writing

Textual link

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Pull-down menu

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Formulas such as login

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Image

Animation

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Graphics

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Photos

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Moving images

0

Links not active. The archived material is a static snapshot.

Link target

0

aa

Print/writing

Text

0

Links not active, therefore link targets are not archived.

Image

Animation

0

Links not active, therefore link targets are not archived.

Graphics

0

Links not active, therefore link targets are not archived.

Photo

0

Links not active, therefore link targets are not archived.

Moving Images

0

Links not active, therefore link targets are not archived.

Other

-

aa

Sound

aa

0

Links not active, therefore link targets are not archived.

Automation

0

aa

aa

Automatic redirection

0

Automatic redirection is not archived

Movement in elements in the structure

Automatic + inherent

0

aaa

Print/writing

aa

0

Movable print/writing is not archived.

Image

Animation

0

Animation is not archived.

Moving Images

0

Moving images are not archived.

Banner ads

0

Banner ads are archived only as static snapshots.

Sound

Background sound

0

Sound is not archived.

Banner ads

0

Sound is not archived.

Automatisk + online

1

aa

Print/writing

Chat as reader

2

Print/writing is archived only as static snapshots.

Image

Moving images

0

Moving images are not archived, as the archived material is in the form of snapshots.

Sound

aaa

0

Sound is not archived.

User intervention + inherent

0

aa

Print/writing

Archived chat

0

User intervention not possible

Mouse-over

0

Mouse-over text is not archived

Quizzes

1

User intervention not possible when archiving, but elements activated prior to archiving are included in archiving.

Clickable maps

1

Clickable maps are archived to the extent they are activated prior to the archiving process, but are static in the archived version.

Image

Non-streamed image (such as† slideshows, clickable maps)

0

The archived material is in the form of snapshots.

Games

0

Games are archived only as snapshots.

Quizzes

0

Quizzes are archived only as snapshots.

Clickable maps (w. zoom or activation)

0

Clickable maps are archived but not active.

Mouse-over

0

Mouse-over images are archived correctly, and are active.

Sound

Non-streamed sound (as activated in games, quizzes, etc.)

0

Sound is not archived.

Mouse-over

0

Sound is not archived.

User intervention + online

0

aa

Print/writing

Chat (as participant)

0

User intervention not possible. The archived material is static.

Polls

0

User intervention not possible. The archived material is static.

Test-yourself

0

User intervention not possible. The archived material is static.

Image

Streamed images

0

User intervention not possible. The archived material is static.

Games

0

User intervention not possible. The archived material is static.

Sound

Streaming (both archived and live)

0

Sound is not archived.

Non-movable elements

aa

3

aa

Print/writing

ss

4

All print/writing is correctly archived.

Image

aa

3

All images are correctly archived.

Sound

aa

0

Sound is not archived


Back to main outline

The test was carried out by graduate student Bo Hovgaard Thomasen during the period from July- December 2004, and its premises and main results are explicated in the text Test of software and strategies for micro-archiving websites.

Note: We do not have the resources to offer technical support or other advice on the use of the tested archiving programme beyond what can be found on this web page.