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Archive-It VS Dash for macOS

Compare Archive-It VS Dash for macOS and see what are their differences

Archive-It logo Archive-It

Archive-It is a free to use web archiving service designed for the libraries and archives.

Dash for macOS logo Dash for macOS

Dash is an API Documentation Browser and Code Snippet Manager. Dash searches offline documentation of 200+ APIs and stores snippets of code. You can also generate your own documentation sets.
  • Archive-It Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-03-29
  • Dash for macOS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-22

Archive-It features and specs

  • Comprehensive Web Archiving
    Archive-It provides a robust platform designed for institutions to capture and archive web content, preserving important digital information for future research and reference.
  • Customizable Archiving
    Users can customize their archiving settings to target specific web pages, websites, or even entire domains, ensuring that the unique needs of various organizations are met.
  • User Support and Training
    Archive-It offers support and training resources, facilitating ease of use for institutions that may not have specialized staff for digital archiving.
  • Integration with Wayback Machine
    Content archived using Archive-It is accessible via the Wayback Machine, making it easier for the public to access preserved information and increasing its visibility.
  • Collaboration Opportunities
    The platform enables collaboration among member institutions, allowing them to share best practices and resources, and to undertake joint projects in web archiving.

Possible disadvantages of Archive-It

  • Cost
    Archive-It can be costly, particularly for smaller institutions or organizations with limited budgets, potentially limiting access to its services.
  • Complexity
    Setting up and managing web archiving using Archive-It can be complex, requiring a certain level of technical expertise or training, which could be a barrier for some users.
  • Data Volume Limitations
    There may be limits on the amount of data that can be archived, which could restrict the ability to comprehensively capture all desired content.
  • Dependency on Internet Archive
    As Archive-It is a service provided by the Internet Archive, there is a dependency on the overarching organization's longevity and stability, which might concern some users regarding long-term accessibility.

Dash for macOS features and specs

  • Comprehensive Documentation Library
    Dash offers an extensive collection of API documentation sets for a wide range of programming languages and frameworks, making it a one-stop solution for developers who need quick access to reference materials.
  • Offline Access
    Dash allows users to download documentation for offline use, which is invaluable when working in environments without internet access or when attempting to reduce dependency on online resources.
  • Snippets Manager
    Dash includes a snippets manager that enables users to store and organize code snippets, which can significantly accelerate coding by reusing previously written code.
  • Integration with IDEs
    Dash integrates seamlessly with a variety of popular integrated development environments (IDEs) and code editors, like Xcode, Atom, Sublime Text, and more, streamlining the development workflow.
  • Custom Docsets
    Users can create and manage their own custom docsets, allowing for documentation customization specific to internal libraries or less common technologies.

Possible disadvantages of Dash for macOS

  • Paid Software
    Dash is a paid application, which may be a deterrent for some users who prefer free solutions or developers working with tight budgets.
  • macOS Only
    Dash is exclusive to macOS, which excludes users on other operating systems like Windows or Linux from utilizing its features.
  • Initial Set-Up Time
    Initial setup of Dash and downloading the necessary documentation sets can be time-consuming, especially for users who require multiple docsets.
  • Limited Cloud Syncing
    Dash doesn't offer robust cloud syncing options for documentation sets or snippet repositories, meaning users need to manually manage these files if working across multiple devices.

Analysis of Dash for macOS

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Dash for macOS is considered an excellent tool for developers seeking efficient and reliable access to offline documentation.

Why this product is good

  • Dash is highly regarded for its extensive offline documentation for numerous programming languages, frameworks, and APIs. Its speed and ease of use make it a valuable tool for developers who need quick access to documentation without an internet connection. The application allows users to create their own docsets and keep all documentation up to date effortlessly.

Recommended for

  • Software Developers
  • Programmers
  • Web Developers
  • Mobile App Developers
  • IT Professionals

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Dash for macOS videos

Dash for macOS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Archive-It and Dash for macOS)
Productivity
14 14%
86% 86
Web App
100 100%
0% 0
Software Development
0 0%
100% 100
Bookmark Manager
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Archive-It and Dash for macOS

Archive-It Reviews

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Dash for macOS Reviews

  1. Stan
    ยท Founder at SaaSHub ยท
    One of my favourite productivity tools as a software developer

    Once you get use to it, you won't be able to imagine your life without Dash. It will save you a bit of time every day. Many times.

    As a bonus you can use the "snippets" feature as a generic text-expander. That saves me tons of time when writing emails, too.

    p.s. aText is not exactly a direct competitor; however, I replaced it through the snippets feature of Dash.

    ๐Ÿ Competitors: aText

Best Text Expander apps for MacOS
Dash offers one of the most simplistic ways to start adding your own snippets. Dash 3 offers a set of language documentation at the side and this is something that will help you with rules and references. The tool allows you to create snippets by simply copying the phrase. Alternatively, you can also create custom snippets using keyboard commands. Dash allows users to setup...
Source: techwiser.com
What's a good alternative to Textexpander for Mac?
14DashView Productajimix4Written 4y agoIf you are a developer, Dash is your choice. It also does text-expanding and works great!๐Ÿ™ helpful 3CommentsShare

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Dash for macOS seems to be a lot more popular than Archive-It. While we know about 91 links to Dash for macOS, we've tracked only 3 mentions of Archive-It. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Archive-It mentions (3)

  • Not able to access old website, getting this message instead
    Other projects include Open Library & archive-it.org. Source: almost 3 years ago
  • How great of a blow to historians is the migration of letters and journals to the digital realm, where most of them are inaccessible to historians (locked email accounts, hard drives, etc)?
    The biggest hurdle in DH of the early internet and manipulating the data at scale is creating collections from archived material that fit your needs. The internet archive has a subscription-based archival tool Archive-It but the collection starts when you (or some other person) creates it. There isn't a collection for anti-vaccine material from 1996-. With Covid, many collections have been started but these will... Source: over 3 years ago
  • How to archive an entire website?
    Archive-It is a subscription web archiving service from the Internet Archive that helps organizations to harvest, build, and preserve collections of digital content. Through our user friendly web application Archive-It partners can collect, catalog, and manage their collections of archived content with 24/7 access and full text search available for their use as well as their patrons. Source: over 3 years ago

Dash for macOS mentions (91)

  • Show HN: Self-updating MCP server for official pip, uv, poetry and conda docs
    You're absolutely right about the root cause being outdated AI knowledge bases/training data. I agree, my solution doesn't address that directly. Where this actually shines is with local LLMs (Ollama, etc) - smaller models, no API costs, fully offline, and the AI gets fresh docs without waiting months for model retraining cycles. Your point about convincing major providers to integrate something like Dash... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • Man pages are great, man readers are the problem
    Https://kapeli.com/dash for MacOS supports man pages just like any of its many other documentation sources. Just prefix the search query with `man:`. Absolute hall of fame app IMO. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Why "alias" is my last resort for aliases
    Yeah, I do something kind of similar, using Dash [1] snippets which expand to full commands. Since I'm almost always on my mac, it means they're available in every shell, including remote shells, and in other situations like on Slack or writing documentation. I mostly use ยง as a prefix so I don't type them accidentally (although my git shortcuts are all `gg`-consonant which is not likely to appear in real typing).... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
  • Patterns for Personal Web Sites (2003)
    Yeah, I keep thinking that CHM was the peak format for offline docs. Today we have Kiwix [0] and Dash/Zeal [1] โ€“ both amazing projects, but somehow they feel more complex, and the formats they use arenโ€™t as ubiquitous. [0]: https://kiwix.org/en/ [1]: https://kapeli.com/dash for macOS, https://zealdocs.org/ for others. - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • Ask HN: What is one software product that boosted your productivity?
    Dash https://kapeli.com/dash Mac app. A native standardised search and browsing interface for the documentation of almost every programming language out there (and in some cases, their third-party libraries too). - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Archive-It and Dash for macOS, you can also consider the following products

Wayback Machine - Browse through over 150 billion web pages archived from 1996 to a few months ago.

Zeal - Zeal is an API Documentation Browser.

Archive.md - archive.is allows you to create a copy of a webpage that will always be up even if the original link is down

DevDocs - Open source API documentation browser with instant fuzzy search, offline mode, keyboard shortcuts, and more

Archive.org - Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library offering free universal access to books, movies...

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