A possible method for importing from Firefox and other browsers
suggestion
Export (i.e. save) some HTML files to a predefined location in the SM program folder, e.g. [SM]/systems/[collection]/PagesToImport/*
Whenever SM gets the chance -- or when the user tells it to -- it reads this directory and moves the files where they need to go in the /elements directory, creating the necessary data (e.g. update Contents, create rephist, etc).
Yes, there is an "import files and folders" option, but this would work faster, without requiring nearly as much user interaction (i.e. save pages, find pages, delete pages after importing).
Creating an extension to save selected tabs/pages to this special directory wouldn't be too hard.
comments
- the downside is that all images (incl. icon garbage, scripts, etc.) would get integrated with SuperMemo collection adding to the multiplicity of folders and files that slow down copy and backup operations
- see if solution isn't satisfactory: Does_the_Import_web_pages_feature_work_with_other_browsers_than_Internet_Explorer?
response
Regarding the first comment: This need not be the case by using a special extension; it doesn't necessarily need to ride off of the current "Save Page" browser functionality, hence an extension. Just as Web Import can leave the images linked to external sources, so could this (proposed) extension; an image is, after all, just an HTML tag. The extension could also (easily) evaulate URLs to their absolute addresses to make the remote images (or links) accessible.
- when importing articles, SuperMemo uses Internet Explorer to parse all links. when articles are saved to the disk, the links have already been parsed with files localized. In other words, SuperMemo rarely parses HTML and relies on other applications to do so (which eliminates lots of potential bugs in processing)
Second comment: The "IE View Lite" extension has the same problem as similar extensions, namely, that it creates a separate instance of IE for each new page. This eats up memory fast. On my system, opening a window in a new instance of IE consumes about 100 MB. The same page in a new window of a current instance, however, consumes maybe 5-10 MB (not even that much). Any method requiring one to open pages in IE would not work as quickly/easily as the proposed method.