Some website thumbnail/snapshot creator tools are currently available for free. You should place a block of provided html on your page and it will show thumbnail (hopefully).
The example could be a PHP tool from artViper ( http://www.artviper.com/tools.php). It is said that it's a PHP script utilizing a C++ coded DLL to generate website thumbnail.
Another example of free website thumbnail creator service would be http://www.websnapr.com
Pros:
free (only basic functionality)
small server load since you do not need to create thumbnails on your server
Cons:
you become dependent on third-party servers (sometimes they can be even down)
most likely you will only be able to get thumbnail for the top page only. Mostly these are not generating thumbnails for subpages, need to pay for extra features.
may slow down your pages load if remote server is performing slow
you will not be able to get website thumbnail if thumbnail was not yet generated on provider's site. This means you will often receive "No thumbnail" images.
thumbnails are usually of predefined size which may not feet your needs
need to pay for extra features like true color thumbnails, image format, etc. |
