Web User - UK (2019-08-07)

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Workshop 4

Get more practical advice atwww.facebook.com/webusermagazine 7 - 20August 2019^57

Get alerts when favourite websites update

I

f you’ve ever wasted timerepeatedly checkingfor changes

on your favourite website or missed an important update

becauseyou failed to check it often enough, DistillWeb

Monitor is thetool to save yo ur sanity. Simply click the

extension’s icon whenyou’re visitingyour

favourite web pages andyou canrelax in the

knowledge thatyou’ll be notified about any

changes within minutes of them happening.

Distill Web Monitor:distill.io | 10 mins | Chrome Firefox Opera

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Follow the links ondistill.ioto install it inyour chosen

browser – we’re using Chrome.Visit a pageyou want to

monitorfor changes and click theextension icon.^1 If it ’s

available, ‘Monitorfeed’^2 alertsyou when a newstory is

posted. Click the button, then click‘Add Feed to Distill’.

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You’re takento your Watchlist – the list of sitesyou’ve

set the softwareto keep aneye on.When newcontent

appears on the site, the icon gets ared notification box.

(^1) Click the History section (^2) to see a list of all thecontent
on the site. The mostrecent to appear isat the top.^3
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You can change how often checksfor newcontent are
performed,^1 see the time of the last update^2 and
choose between running thetool in the cloud or on
your PC.^3 The freeversion letsyou run five checks in the
cloud and twenty five in the browser (when it’s in use).
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You can monitor a specific area of awebsite, which is
handyfor tracking changes in elements that are always
in the same place, such as the price of an item in an
online shop.When clicking the icon, choose ‘Select parts of
page’^1 and click the area thatyou’d liketo monitor.^2
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Click ‘Save selections’to go to the configuration screen
and set what happens when something changes. Use
the drop-down arrow next to ‘Add action’^1 to choose
the type of notification.^2 You can also tweak the checking
interval.^3 Click the Save button whenyou’ve finished.
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The last option – ‘Monitor full page’^1 – is idealfor
lettingyou know when infrequently updated static web
pages change, such as acompany’s homepage. It can
also be usedto monitor pages thatregularly change but
don’t have a feed.
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