How to Clone any Website into ZIP Archive in 1 minute for Free?
Now that we've made a little disclaimer, let's get started. In this post, we will talk about online tools that will allow you, having only a URL, to copy or clone any page on the web - its design, markup, in a word, clone its code and write it to a ZIP archive for further analysis.
It's a great way to see how someone else's code works, learn new features that you didn't know about before, or generally look at how other developers write code, what frameworks they use, or how they style code to improve its readability. So, let's begin.
SaveWeb2ZIP
When I started my path as a frontend developer, I used this particular tool in order to analyze someone else's code, especially someone else's JS code. This tool allows you to copy the files of any web page into a ZIP archive, not only its HTML markup, but also images, CSS styles and JS scripts. There is no way to copy backend files. But in fact, this is good, otherwise there were more phishing sites than original ones.
SaveWeb2ZIP Interface (source)
The resource can be used to analyze landing pages. Indeed, when copying, for example, a landing page, SaveWeb2ZIP makes it possible to create a form for receiving applications directly to your email. To do this, just put a tick in one place.
This way you will get a ready-made backend code, and you can review it and analyze it for educational purposes (do not forget that copied sites cannot be used and published, because this is a copyright infringement).
Toolsbug
Toolsbug was created and is still maintained by one developer (at least that's what it says in the "About" section). Here you can download up to 50 pages of the site in a ZIP archive. Further, only the paid version of the web application. The site is simpler than the previous one, because here you need to press only two buttons - choose whether you want to copy more than 50 pages and start the process. As easy as pie.
Toolsbug Interface (source)
Compared to the previous resource, the functionality is quite limited, I agree, but the author focuses on other services of his site, such as "Tags Generator For YouTube" or "Email Scraper". It may also be useful to someone, but this post is not about that. In short, this is a simple tool that will copy the site you want to a ZIP archive for free (if it is small) and quickly. Speed of processing is not far behind the previous competitor.
Developer Tools
No matter what browser you use, you should always have a developer tools section (accessible by pressing ctrl+i). If we talk about what each metric means here and why certain tabs are needed, then you can write a whole book about it. Today we are focused on the "Inspector" tab, where you will see the page code that the developer wrote.
Developer Tools - Google Chrome
This tool is perfect for educational purposes, because here you can analyze not the whole page, but individual blocks of the site that interest you the most. So, you won’t have a bunch of dumped information in your head, as after using the previous resources. Here you will find both JS scripts and CSS styles, sat down for example, you were inspired by the design of the site and want to do something similar on your project.
Dev Tools is a huge topic that deserves a book of its own, so you as a developer need to be proficient with these tools, because without them, it is not possible to move on. Google has great documentation about their DevTools (if you're not using Google Chrome, then it's scary, because on all browsers these DevTools are almost identical).
Httrack
There are several more tools that will help you copy any website for educational purposes for free. One of them is httrack. I will say right away - here you will have to download the utility to your computer - it sounds like the last century, I agree. It also looks like the last century - my 90-year-old grandmother said - what kind of junk?
HTTrack - Interface (source)
This is true, but the tool itself is not bad and fast. Judging by the versions of the latest updates, it was last updated a very long time ago, but the speed of work is no lower than that of its competitors. The essence of the utility does not change - paste the URL and get a ZIP archive. Nothing new. The utility does not have any special differences and obvious advantages, however, perhaps it is still preferable for someone to download the utility than to use an online tool.
Sitepuller
The last resource I added to this list for today is Sitepuller. The peculiarity of this resource over competitors above is that here you have the opportunity to send the copied site to e-mail without downloading. This can be handy if you are not working alone. Moreover, the site positions itself as a tool to help with site migration, which also justifies this functionality, because the hired developer must receive the source files.
Sitepuller Interface (source)
The rest of the site is no different from competitors. In general, keep in mind that the resources for copying sites do not differ in rich functionality and are all about the same. Some tools have features to distinguish themselves from competitors, but in general they work according to the same scheme and according to the same algorithm, which means that they have the same speed and performance.
Conclusion
I told you today about 5 tools with which you can analyze someone else's code quickly and conveniently. Of the resources I have listed, I would choose DevTools, where I analyzed each div block. And if I had questions, I would turn to ChatGPT and ask AI to explain what this or that line of code does.
In conclusion, I would like to remind you that you use these increments correctly - either for educational purposes or for migrating your old site to a new domain. Respect the work of others and do not use other people's ideas and designs.