FWALK is the combination of a User Agent and a drawing tool. Essentially it allows the depiction of a site's anchor and resource structures limited by the number of levels it is told to traverse. It is written in perl, and incorporates the Ming SWF output libraries, LWP libraries and HTML::Parser.

Why?

Firstly, this is a quick experiment which allows a support structure for further drawing styles. The motivation springs from a variety of sources. An interest in being able to depict projects (in this case web projects) in a manner which generates an overall picture. The second main interest is a continued interest in the use of visual aids to present information in a visually exciting and useful manner. I would also have to cite the fact that the ming swf output library provides an excellent tool for exploring drawing, animation, interactivity and server and client communication I can't seem to get bored of using it!

Requirements:

Shockwave Flash Plugin v5.0 or above. Frames Capable Browser. Window size: at least 800 x 600 pixels

Directions:

Enter a url in the field labelled "Destination URL." Specify a depth to limit the amount of levels which are to be traced in the field labelled "Trace Depth." Start the process by hitting the "SEND" button.

Please note, the agent does not parse embedded media. It recognzies objects such as flash, images or video as external resources. Therefore, a flash only site will not render detailed drawings.