Image Surfer Pro Forms
The ISP Forms Button
This button can be used in several ways and is integral to getting accurate and safe links to the images you want to collect. The central functionality of this button is to pull out image and hypertext links from the current webpage and display the information in a form which allows you to choose which information to add to your fusker collection.
The primary uses of ISP Forms can be summarized as:
- Provide safer and more private browsing
- Continue surfing in the same browser window
- Obtain a direct link to an image from the current webpage
- Add specific images from the current webpage to your fusker collection
- Choose specific links to search for image information
Image Surfer Pro Forms
The ISP Form button extracts the information from the webpage in the current IE browser window and generates a custom webpage based on that information. The current browser window is then re-directed to this custom webpage.
The custom webpage generated is essentially a table with the following format:
| Row # | Content | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Image #1 |
Sterile Link #1 Clean Link #1 Original Link #1 |
|
| Image #N |
Sterile Link Clean Link Original Link |
|
| Text Content #1 |
Sterile Link Clean Link Original Link |
|
| Text Content #X |
Sterile Link Clean Link Original Link |
Each image found on the webpage will be shown in the Content column. If the image was "clickable" and provided a link to another webpage, the information in the Links column will also be populated.
Following the image information links associated with non-image content on the page will be shown. The text or other HTML content which was displayed on the webpage is shown in the Content column and the associated destination is shown in the Links column.
Safer Browsing
Links on a webpage can link to images, documents, webpages, or even active scripts. In some cases you may simply want to follow the link as it is provided, but if you are unsure of the website you are surfing or occasionally get directed to content which is completely different from what you were expecting, then there is a good chance the website is using one of the following methods to hijack your surfing experience.
- Indirection: When the link accesses a script or other website and passes the desired website as a parameter. This may be done for many reasons. Some of the reasons are valid (such as passing affiliate information through a 3rd party monitor) but many are not. This type of link may not only be a tracking device but may also be used to pop up other sites behind your browser window, send you to completely unexpected locations, or run various viral attacks.
- Site Parameters: Usually parameters added to a website address are necessary for the correct display of the desired website; however, they may also contain tracking or other information that can be used by the destination site. Knowing what information is being passed is always a good idea if you don't fully trust the site you are surfing.
The Image Surfer Pro Form shows you exactly what links you are following - including any indirection or website parameters. By understanding what information is in the links you are following and deliberately choosing the links you follow you can greatly increase the security of your browsing session. The Image Surfer Pro form presents the destination of each link on the webpage with a set of options:
Sterile Link:
This link has both indirection and site parameters removed. If the site you are surfing is entirely clean
the only links you will see in the Links column of the Image Surfer Pro Form will be Sterile links.
Though sanitized, these links may still directly reference scripts which could be harmful. Some sanitized links
may not contain sufficient information to resolve, or which do not reference a file - parameters removed from
a link may cause the link to be invalid.
Clean Link:
Clean links have had any indirection removed but direct website parameters remain. This entry in the right
column will only exist if there were parameters to be removed in the formation of the Sterile Link. Remember,
website parameters may be necessary to access the desired content. In many cases the parameter will designate
the pictorial id or the image id being accessed through a common access webpage and without it the webpage
may not resolve.
Original Link:
This is the exact link which the content on the original webpage referenced. This link will only be present in the
right hand column if there was indirection to be removed in the formation of the Sterile Link. Because indirection
is always used in these links, it is strongly recommended that you understand why the indirection is necessary before
clicking these links. Clicking one of these links is roughly the same as having clicked the content on the original
webpage with a couple minor differences:
- The link will open in the current browser window and not open a new tab or window unless you right click and request a new browser tab or window.
- The referencing page information will be that of the Image Surfer Pro generated page rather than that of the original webpage which may cause the new webpage to encounter authorization errors and not display.
Continue Surfing In Same Browser Window
Often websites like to open images or other content in a new browser tab or window. This breaks general website design recommendations but is fairly common. This makes it hard to build your fusker collection over multiple pages as each new browser window or tab gets a new instance of the Image Surfer Pro toolbar. The links in the 2nd column of the ISP Form allows you to decide if you want to continue in the same browser window or not. By default they open in the same browser window. If you wish the destination to be displayed in a new window or tab, right click the link and select "Open in new tab" or "Open in new window".
Obtain A Direct Image Link
Internet Explorer does not currently (as of IE11) provide an easy way to extract the URL of an image embedded on a webpage. Each image displayed in the 1st column of the table is also a direct link to the image. Clicking any image will display the image in the current browser window as if you had accessed the image directly by typing the URL in the IE address bar.
Adding Images To Your Fusker Collection
Next to each image and after each link there is an associated check box which can be used to determine which
information to add to your fusker collection. After marking each check box of the information you want to add,
process the form by clicking the
button on the Image Surfer Pro toolbar. You may also use the "Select All" boxes in the table header to quickly
check all the images and/or groups of links on the form.
No automatic range fusking is performed on images added to your fusker collection when added this way.
Choosing Specific Links For Directed Search
Next to each link in the Links column of the ISP Form there is a check box to search the link for additional
image information. When processed by the
button, the browser will navigate to each link selected for an additional search and Image Surfer Pro will
process the page for additional image information either on that page, directly referenced by the page, or
contained on image subpages referenced by the page. The ideal use of this feature is to select links to Free
Hosted Gallery pages for the images you wish to add to your collection while not selecting general non image
related pages.
Two "Search All" boxes are available in the header of the ISP Form and can be used to quickly select groups of links to search. The "Search for images on pages linked to by an image" box will select the most appropriate links in the Links column for which there is an image in the Content column. Likewise, the "Search for images on pages linked to by text" box will select the most appropriate links in the Links column for which there is text content in the Content column. When you want to search most of the links on a page, this gives you a quick starting point and you may then uncheck the boxes for the links you specifically don't want to search. These buttons will select only one of the three links on any given row. In order or priority Clean links are preferred followed by Sterile and finally Original.
NOTE: links which are direct references to images will not have a "search" check box. Simply use the "add" check box to add the image to your fusker collection.
For a better understanding of how a Directed Search works please read the Directed Search portion of this user's manual.
