| Q: What's the purpose of this website? |
| A:
It's a "virtual tikkun" which
lets a Torah reader extract a section of Torah which they're
planning to study and read in a service. This extracted section
can either be printed, saved on the computer for review, or transferred
to a handheld device for future study. |
| Q:
Why was ScrollScraper down from late 2022 until early 2023? |
| A:
The website which contained the source of this data, bible.ort.org went offline in late 2022.
Fortunately it was possible to resurrect ScrollScraper from stored GIF images captures from bible.ort.org. |
| Q:
May/can I link to a Torah selection on your website? |
A:
You bet ... that's part of the idea. For example the person who assigns
some Torah readings by email can mail instructions to the readers,
including these links. For example, to link to Exodus 15:27
through 16:9, use the link:http://scrollscraper.adatshalom.net/scrollscraper.cgi?book=2&startc=15&startv=27&endc=16&endv=9Note that you should be able to cut-and-paste the URLs from your web browser into your email program, so you shouldn't need to compose these URLs manually in most cases. |
| Q: I have trouble printing the light blue/dark blue colors on the right side of the tikkun display. |
| A:
Try selecting the solid-black training-text coloring radio button (it should be the second radio button). If you have other color schemes that you'd like to see, please let me know. Note that selecting a color scheme other than the default light blue/dark blue will result in slower display times, and may be slightly fuzzier than the original images.
|
| Q: Why is the word "scraper" part of the program's title? |
| A: It's a member of a class of programs called "screen scrapers", because they electronically scan web pages and "scrape out" the desired portions. By the way, these programs are prone to break when/if the target website changes or goes offline. As of mid-2023, ScrollScraper is no longer implemented as a Screen Scraper, so is more robust than it used to be. |
| Q: Which features will you consider adding in the future? |
A:
In no particular order, prioritized based upon request-frequency and
effort required:
|
| Q: Why are there restrictions on MP3 creation? |
| A:
Unlike the RealPlayer recordings, the MP3 recordings require
significant scrollscraper system resources (processing, disk and bandwidth).
While no abuse of this capability is anticipated, some reasonable
constraints have been established. |
| Q: What are the restrictions on MP3 creation? |
A:
These are subject to change. Currently a single IP address may
generate a maximum of 8 MP3 recordings per calendar day, totalling no more
than 30MB. All ScrollScraper users combined may generate no more than 100
recordings per day totaling no more than 300MB. No single recording may exceed the formula (audio repeat count) * (verse count) > 72.
|
| Q: The recordings don't properly represent sof-aliyah for the reading that I'm preparing. |
| A:
The ORT recordings follow the canonical full-kriyah sof-pasuk and
sof-aliyah
conventions. For many of us who prepare non-standard reading
excerpts, there's no solution for this. You must make the mental
correction while practicing for your Torah reading. |
| Q: Is this really the only online virtual tikkun? |
| A:
I'm not sure. I've heard rumors of others but haven't been able
to
locate them. The only exception to date is the experimental and
ambitious Tanach on Demand
website which I found in Wikipedia,
but this is much harder to use and definitely in an experimental
state. Then there's the excellent Mechon Mamre,
which has much clearer fonts than what ScrollScraper is able to
provide, but is not very tikkun-like.
Also, here's a
nice clearinghouse with multiple sources of Torah texts, including
ScrollScraper itself. |
| Q:
What about proper disposal of printouts? |
| A:
The paper-free electronic versions don't require disposal, and seem to
be permitted by most halachic
authorities. In any case, these same issues exist with the ORT
website itself. If you make a printout, it might need to be
disposed of in a genizah;
consult your rabbi. |
| Q:
Is the source code available? |
| A:
Absolutely. Here it is.
Don't forget to obey the license restrictions stated near the top of
the main scrollscraper.cgi file. |
| Q: I love ScrollScraper and don't know how I ever managed without it! What can I do to show my appreciation? |
| A:
Drop me an email (ScrollScraper is "thank-you-ware"). Also if you
feel moved to make a contribution to the organization which provided
the underlying technical resources, WorldORT, that would
be very nice. |