Convert Websites to Text Only - The Lift Text Transcoder

It may sometimes be useful and necessary - in law particularly - to convert website pages from a graphic-based to a text-based form.

The freeware LIFT Text Transcoder makes it possible to convert web pages to text-only versions. The manual states:

"LIFT Text Transcoder (or transcoder) is a web application that converts a web page into its text-only version on-the-fly by eliminating all page layout that is present in the original page and by hiding many accessibility defects.
The transcoder is useful for the website visitor, since it removes some accessibility issues and small defects like missing image ALTs or forms that are not properly linearized or flash objects. It can be used also by the web developer to determine if the reading order of the information presented in the page makes sense when read in the order that would be followed by a screen reader or speech browser.

The LIFT Text Transcoder - enter a URL at that link page to try it out - is useful for people and situations where:

- graphics cannot be seen (e.g. blind persons, text-only browsers, ...);
- sizes of the page elements have to changed (e.g. a low-vision persons that maximizes the browser windows to enlarge its contents; a PDA user who has to fit everything on a small screen);
- size of text that has to be changed (e.g. a low-vision person; a presenter that has to project a web page to an audience via a projector);
-links and buttons have to be easily located and operated (e.g. a person with motor disabilities that cannot move his/her hand with precision, like somebody with a broken arm);
-form fields need to be easily layed out to be used (e.g. a low vision person using a screen magnifier that restricts his/her field of vision)."

The options that are available for each text-only page so produced are:

"Change the current font size: larger | default | smaller
Current color mode is Black on White, other available modes: Yellow on Black | Black on Cream
Show textual links as buttons
Do not move navbars
Open not handled documents directly
Hide the Text/Graphical View Panel
Hide Text Only Options
Open the original version of this page."
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Internet Archiving and the Law - UK, EU, USA, Australia

Is Internet Archiving Legal? See Legal issues reating to the archiving of Internet resources in the UK, EU, USA and Australia, a study undertaken for the JISC and Wellcome Trust, by Andrew Charlesworth, University of Bristol, Centre for IT and Law, Version 1. - 25 February 2003.

See also the International Internet Preservation Consortium (IIPC)
which writes about the consortium:

"Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, The British Library (UK), The Library of Congress (USA) and the Internet Archive (USA) acknowledged the importance of international collaboration for preserving Internet content for future generations and therefore decided to form a consortium called the International Internet Preservation Consortium.

The goals of the consortium are:
To enable the collection of a rich body of Internet content from around the world to be preserved in a way that it can be archived, secured and accessed over time.
To foster the development and use of common tools, techniques and standards that enable the creation of international archives.
To encourage and support national libraries everywhere to address Internet archiving and preservation."

Members of IIPC are:

Bibliothèque nationale de France
(National Library of France)
Quai François Mauriac
75706 Paris cedex 13 France
http://www.bnf.fr

Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze
(National Library of Italy, Florence)
Piazza dei Cavalleggeri, 1
50122 Firenze Italy
http://www.bncf.firenze.sbn.it
iipc@bncf.firenze.sbn.it

Det Kongelige Bibliotek
(The Royal Library, Denmark)
Postbox 2149
DK-1016 Copenhagen Denmark
http://www.kb.dk
iipc@kb.dk

Helsingin yliopiston kirjasto -
Suomen Kansalliskirjasto
(Helsinki University Library,
The National Library of Finland)
PL 15 (Unioninkatu 36)
00014 HELSINGIN YLIOPISTO Finland
http://www.lib.helsinki.fi
hyk-iipc@helsinki.fi

Internet Archive
The Presidio of San Francisco
116 Sheridan Avenue
Box 29244
San Francisco, CA 94129 United States of America
http://www.archive.org
iipc@archive.org

Kungliga biblioteket Sveriges nationalbibliotek
(The Royal Library, National Library of Sweden)
Box 5039
S-102 41 Stockholm Sweden
http://www.kb.se

Landsbokasafn Islands - Haskolabokasafn
(National and University Library of Iceland)
Arngrimsgata 3
IS-107 Reykjavik Iceland
http://www.bok.hi.is

Library and Archives Canada
395, Wellington Street
Ottawa (Ontario) K1A 0N4Canada
http://www.collectionscanada.ca
iipc@lac-bac.gc.ca

Nasjonalbiblioteket
(The National Library of Norway)
P.O. Box 2674 Solli
NO-0203 Oslo Norway
http://www.nb.no
iipc@nb.no

National Library of Australia
Parkes Place
Canberra, ACT 2600 Australia
http://www.nla.gov.au
iipc@nla.gov.au

The British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB United Kingdom
http://www.bl.uk
iipc@bl.uk

The Library of Congress
LM 637
Washington, D.C. 20540 United States of America
http://www.loc.gov
iipc@loc.gov
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