Get started with web scraping in 5 minutes!

Installation

  1. Install Python 3.8+ (if not already installed) bash python --version # Should be 3.8 or higher

  2. Install dependencies bash pip install -r requirements.txt

Your First Scrape (Beginner)

  1. Navigate to beginner examples bash cd beginner

  2. Run your first scraper bash python 01_basic_scraping.py

You should see: - The HTML content of a webpage - The page title - Headings found on the page

  1. Try the other beginner examples bash python 02_extract_links.py python 03_extract_text.py

Next Steps

For Beginners

  1. Complete all 3 beginner examples
  2. Read beginner/README.md for detailed explanations
  3. Try the exercises in beginner/exercises/

For Intermediate Users

  1. Start with intermediate/01_pagination.py
  2. Learn about forms, rate limiting, and data storage
  3. Practice with intermediate exercises

For Advanced Users

  1. Set up Selenium (install ChromeDriver)
  2. Try advanced/01_selenium_basics.py
  3. Explore async scraping and Scrapy

Common Issues

Issue: "Module not found"

Solution: Make sure you've installed requirements:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Issue: Selenium ChromeDriver error

Solution: Install ChromeDriver: - macOS: brew install chromedriver - Or download from: https://chromedriver.chromium.org/

Issue: "Connection timeout"

Solution: - Check your internet connection - The website might be down - Try a different URL

Learning Path

Beginner (Week 1)
├── Basic scraping
├── Extract links
└── Extract text

Intermediate (Week 2)
├── Pagination
├── Forms
├── Rate limiting
└── Data storage

Advanced (Week 3)
├── Selenium
├── Async scraping
├── Scrapy
└── Database integration

Tips for Success

  1. Start simple: Master the basics before moving to advanced topics
  2. Practice: Try modifying the examples
  3. Read error messages: They usually tell you what's wrong
  4. Be respectful: Always add delays and check robots.txt
  5. Experiment: Try scraping different websites

Need Help?

  • Check the README files in each level directory
  • Review the code comments in examples
  • Practice with the exercises
  • Refer to official documentation for libraries

Happy scraping! 🕷️