What is WebScan?
Never again lose track of web site updates...

Introduction
	What is WebScan?
	How WebScan can help you
	System requirements

Information
	Screenshots of WebScan

	How to register (& EULAs)

Resources
	Download the WebScan demo
	WebScan updates (registered users only)
	Frequently Asked Questions

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Overview

WebScan is a software application designed to record the exact file structure of a nominated directory on your harddisc.
At a later time, you may re-run WebScan to provide a detailed comparison between the file structure, as recorded, and the file structure as it is when you re-run WebScan.

Or, in English...
On your harddisc you'll have a collection of documents of some sort that you wish to keep an eye on. WebScan will watch these for you and tell you which ones change (added, deleted, or just altered).
Unlike some utilities, you do not need to keep WebScan loaded all the time - simply use it when you want to know what has changed.

Why would this be useful?

The main purpose, as implied by the application name, is to scan web site directories. You see, a number of site authoring utilities leave out a very important aspect - the ability to extract all of the files that have changed since last time. Some allow you to ftp upload only the changes, but come unstuck at those times when you do not intend to upload from that machine (or cannot due to filewalls, routers, or the server requiring a secure login).
Another primary user of WebScan would be the person that creates their website the old-fashioned way, in WordPad or the like. Don't laugh - that's how I'm writing this right now! :-)

The simplest answer is to just update everything, but if you only have modem dial-up or if your website is large and complex, this is obviously not an ideal situation.

WebScan is the solution that you are looking for!

How do I do it?

You must first 'set up' WebScan. This is where you tell WebScan what directory to consider your 'base'. An example could be:
C:\My Documents\My Website
The base directory may or may not contain subdirectories. If any are present, they will be scanned (recursively).
When you set the base directory, WebScan will whip through and build an index of the file structure of the directory and its contents. WebScan will then quit. It is ready.

When you want to look to see what has changed, simply run WebScan and click on the 'Scan for changes' button. WebScan will look to see what is new, what has been updated, and what has been deleted. You'll be shown a detailed list.
If you have the registered version, you can click the 'Copy Out' option to copy all of the modified files into your Temp directory. Here, you may zip them all up or batch-ftp them, whatever... WebScan makes it easy to sort out the updated files from everything else.

You may, optionally, run an Optimise on the HTML files as they are copied (registered version only). This removes comments, whitespace, etc to make your HTML smaller. While this makes it much harder for humans to read, a web browser won't notice any difference and the files may be as much as 20%-40% smaller, and accordingly will download that much faster.

What does WebScan tell me?

WebScan's report looks like this:

{files}
[+] \software\webscan\doreg.png
[+] \software\webscan\result.png
[/] \software\webscan\faq.html
[/] \software\webscan\whatis.html
[/] \software\webscan\howhelp.html
[/] \software\webscan\sysrec.html

This report was generated during the creation of WebScan's own web area. It tells me that there are four files that have been modified, and two that are now.
The left-hand column contains a '+' if the object (a file or a directory) is new; a '/' if the object has been changed, or a '-' if the object has been removed.

Further information...

You can see some examples of how WebScan can help you.

Is your computer suitable? Check the system requirements.

Look at some screenshots of WebScan in use...

Find out how to register.

Or, simply download the WebScan demo and try it out for yourself!

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