Exploring Linked DOM for Web Scraping and HTML Parsing

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Learn about using Linked DOM as a modern alternative to JS DOM for web scraping, making HTML manipulation easier with familiar JavaScript methods. Dive into the complexities of parsing different website structures and discover intentional obfuscation tactics in HTML code on major platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Web scraping 101! Dive into the world of web scraping with Scott and Wes as they explore everything from tooling setup and navigating protected routes to effective data management. In this Tasty Treat episode, you’ll gain invaluable insights and techniques to scrape (almost) any website with ease.

Show Notes

00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
03:13 Brought to you by Sentry.io.
05:00 What is scraping?
Socialblade.
08:01 Examples of past scrapers.
Canadian Tire.
10:06 Cloud app downloader.
16:13 Other use cases.
16:58 Scraping 101.
17:28 Client Side.
19:08 Private API.
Proxyman.
22:40 Server rendered.
23:27 Initial state.
24:57 What format is the data in?
Google Puppeteer Extension.
27:08 Working with the DOM.
27:12 Linkedom npm package.
29:02 querySelector everything.
31:28 How to find the elements without classes.
34:08 Use XPath selectors for select by word.
34:53 Make them as flexible as you can. Classes change!
35:10 AI is good at this!
36:26 File downloading.
38:20 Working with protected routes.
Proxyman.
40:41 Programatically retrieve authentication keys because they are short-lived.
Fetch Cookie.
43:20 Deal-breakers.
Mechanical Turk.
44:58 What happened with Amazon?
Uniqlo Self-Checkout
46:42 Wes’ portable refrigerator utopia.
47:25 Sick Picks & Shameless Plugs.