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Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

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Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#51

Post by xg15 »

cmgriffing wrote: post #33
xnx wrote: post #4

For anyone who might not be aware, Chrome also has the ability to save screenshots from the command line using: chrome --headless --screenshot="path/to/save/screenshot.png" --disable-gpu --window-size=1280,720 " https://www.example.com "

Quick note: when trying to do full page screenshots, Chrome does a screenshot of the current view, then scrolls and does another screenshot. This can cause some interesting artifacts when rendering pages with scroll behaviors. Firefox does a proper full page screenshot and even allows you to set a higher DPS value. I use this a lot when making video content. Check out some of the args in FF using: `:screenshot --help…

I mean, if you have some of those annoying "hijack scrolling and turn the page into some sort of interactive animation experience" sites, I don't think "full page" would even be well-defined.

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#52

Post by wildzzz »

gkamer8 wrote: post #29
wildzzz wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's one guy running his little AI startup fresh out of college. Claims to be a former national security analyst but makes no such claim on his LinkedIn.

Thanks for the catch on my LinkedIn, I really should have that there now. It was originally something I kept private.

Thanks, I'm always on the lookout for people with suspicious or over-exaggerated credentials cough-Lex Friedman-cough. Is the national security paper public? Is it something about Ufimstev?

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#53

Post by kevinsundar »

I'm looking for something similar that can also extract the diff of content on the page over time, in addition to screenshots. Any suggestions?

I have a homegrown solution using an LLM and scrapegraphai for https://getchangelog.com but would rather offload that to a service that does a better job rendering websites. There's some websites that I get error pages from using playwright, but they load fine in my usual Chrome browser.

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#54

Post by fc417fc802 »

bbor wrote: post #45
jot wrote: post #26

If you’re worried about the security risks, edge cases, maintenance pain and scaling challenges of self hosting there are various solid hosted alternatives: - https://browserless.io - low level browser control - https://scrapingbee.com - scraping specialists - https://urlbox.com - screenshot specialists* They’re all profitable and have been around for years so you can depend on the businesses and the tech. * Disclosu…

Do these services respect norobot manifests? Isn't this all kinda... illegal...? Or at least non-consensual?

[dead]

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#55

Post by theogravity »

jot wrote: post #26

If you’re worried about the security risks, edge cases, maintenance pain and scaling challenges of self hosting there are various solid hosted alternatives: - https://browserless.io - low level browser control - https://scrapingbee.com - scraping specialists - https://urlbox.com - screenshot specialists* They’re all profitable and have been around for years so you can depend on the businesses and the tech. * Disclosu…

there's also our product, Airtop (https://www.airtop.ai/), which is under the scraping specialist / browser automation category that can generate screenshots too.

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#56

Post by gkamer8 »

wildzzz wrote: post #52
gkamer8 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for the catch on my LinkedIn, I really should have that there now. It was originally something I kept private.

Thanks, I'm always on the lookout for people with suspicious or over-exaggerated credentials cough-Lex Friedman-cough . Is the national security paper public? Is it something about Ufimstev?

Hi, it is unfortunately not public and cannot be made so to my understanding. It was frustrating to talk about in job interviews for that reason and therefore was not on the LinkedIn.

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#57

Post by kevinsundar »

theogravity wrote: post #55
jot wrote: post #26

If you’re worried about the security risks, edge cases, maintenance pain and scaling challenges of self hosting there are various solid hosted alternatives: - https://browserless.io - low level browser control - https://scrapingbee.com - scraping specialists - https://urlbox.com - screenshot specialists* They’re all profitable and have been around for years so you can depend on the businesses and the tech. * Disclosu…

there's also our product, Airtop ( https://www.airtop.ai/ ), which is under the scraping specialist / browser automation category that can generate screenshots too.

Hey I'm curious what your thoughts are on whether you need a full blown agent that moves the mouse and clicks to extract contents from webpages or a more simplistic tool that can just scrape pages + take screenshots and pass it through an LLM is generally pretty effective?

I can see niches cases likes videos or animations being better understood by an agent though.

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#58

Post by ALittleLight »

jot wrote: post #26

If you’re worried about the security risks, edge cases, maintenance pain and scaling challenges of self hosting there are various solid hosted alternatives: - https://browserless.io - low level browser control - https://scrapingbee.com - scraping specialists - https://urlbox.com - screenshot specialists* They’re all profitable and have been around for years so you can depend on the businesses and the tech. * Disclosu…

Looking at your urlbox - pretty funny language around the quota system.

>What happens if I go over my quota?

>No need to worry - we won't cut off your service. We automatically upgrade you to the next tier so you benefit from volume discounts. See the pricing page for more details.

So... If I go over the quota you automatically charge me more? Hmm. I would expect to be rejected in this case.

Re: Show HN: An API that takes a URL and returns a file with browser screenshots

#59

Post by jot »

ALittleLight wrote: post #58
jot wrote: post #26

If you’re worried about the security risks, edge cases, maintenance pain and scaling challenges of self hosting there are various solid hosted alternatives: - https://browserless.io - low level browser control - https://scrapingbee.com - scraping specialists - https://urlbox.com - screenshot specialists* They’re all profitable and have been around for years so you can depend on the businesses and the tech. * Disclosu…

Looking at your urlbox - pretty funny language around the quota system. >What happens if I go over my quota? >No need to worry - we won't cut off your service. We automatically upgrade you to the next tier so you benefit from volume discounts. See the pricing page for more details. So... If I go over the quota you automatically charge me more? Hmm. I would expect to be rejected in this case.

I’m sure we can do better here.

In my experience our customers are more worried about having the service stop when they hit the limit of a tier than they are about being charged a few more dollars.

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