Chinese Grammar Wiki- viewing on iphone

[bluetortilla]

I really like using the Chinese Grammar Wiki

http://resources.allsetlearning.com/chinese/grammar/Main_Page

as my main grammar reference resource. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any sort of practical way to make it viewable on my iphone, preferably offline. Downloading the whole site and converting it to pdf would be fine, but does anyone know how to do this? If I could just archive the site, I could probably do the pdf conversion (I've found epub unreliable). I'm on a Mac with Safari, Firefox, and Chrome available, among other browsers. Or is there a faster, easier way?

Thanks!

[gato]

For iPhone-compatible formatting, you can try Instapaper to download individual pages to your iPhone. This only works one page at a time, but the formatting is great.

There is an app called "Offline Pages" to download an entire site, but it doesn't appear to have an ability to reformat for mobile viewing.

You can also try emailing the website editor (John of Sinosplice) to ask them to support a mobile mode.

[roddy]

Yeah, I'd speak to John first. Given that it's a user-editable wiki though (I think?) it's quite possible he's doesn't see the need for an offline version.

[bluetortilla]

I don't mind having to nudge the pages around to read them, but Offline Pages at 6 USD is a bit steep. I found Offline Reader for free, but you can only do one page at a time. I haven't looked at instapaper.

I'll look into other desktop computer programs for archiving web sites and then converting them into pdf.

Actually Imron though the Wiki may always be added to, it's perfect for phone reading and reference when you're trying to write a message on the go.

Thanks.

[icebear]

Try Instapaper, it works well.

[Hugh]

It's not really openly user-editable - you have to apply to be an editor and then you can work on it.

I'd second what others have said here and say you should contact John about adding mobile support. There might be a Mediawiki extension that does this. Wikipedia has a very good mobile version so it seems likely.Edit: Just looked it up. Looks like this is going to to be built into the Mediawiki core at some point ( https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Mobile_support_in_MediaWiki_core ), so as long as they keep updating the software behind the Chinese Grammar Wiki this may become a feature soon.

[imron]

Actually Imron though the Wiki may always be added to, it's perfect for phone reading and reference when you're trying to write a message on the go.

Actually bluetortilla, I don't think I've previously commented in this thread

[roddy]

Yeah, but my comment was so great he assumed you'd made it.

Actually, lets just trigger his Google Alerts.... JOHN PASDEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There, he'll pop in soon enough.

[bluetortilla]

Sorry about the names Roddy and Imron.

Wrote to John about it, so no need to Google Alert him. Though if there is an extension on the way as East Asia Student says he may just wait.

[sinosplice]

So Roddy successfully summoned me, but I also got bluetortilla's email. A slightly edited version of my reply to him:

There is a new Mediawiki/Wikipedia theme in the works called Athena, which is supposed to convert the current Wikipedia site into a responsive layout, meaning it would look good automatically on an iPhone. If that comes out, we will definitely switch to that theme. Not sure when it's going to happen, though.

As for a dedicated iOS app, that is in the works. It should be out later this year.

We're also thinking about releasing an ebook. There are still some content holes we'd want to plug first, but would you guys be interested in that?

The "bad news" is that offline viewing is currently planned as a paid feature. If you get a lot of value out of the Chinese Grammar Wiki, though, you wouldn't mind chipping in a few bucks to support a free resource, right?

[bluetortilla]

I'd be more than happy to contribute to the resource. After trying to solve the problem from various angles, I realized there are just too many links and it's not worth the time. So for now I'll just browse online, mobile or no.

i.e. I could not find a reasonable way to view the sight offline on a mobile phone. A pad might be doable.