Moved to Collaboration Corner. =) June Days
I didn’t understand this completely. Does this mean: you write everything offline (even add pictures offline) and once you’re completely done, click Publish once and it gets published? Adding images offline can be a problem. Many of the images added to wikiHow articles are from Flickr and Wikimedia and I don’t think there is an easy way we can add images offline. Text can be written offline, but there isn’t a need for an app for this. A simple notepad or Microsoft Word (or similar services) can be used, isn’t it? Most of the computers are ultra-smart and offer spell checking features. So using text editors also solves the problem of typos. I still don’t understand this concept of an app, am I missing something?
Without a doubt, this is cool. Unfortunatley, it’s unlikely. We simply don’t have enough engineering time. For the small staff we already have, who do amazing things everyday that they work, they simply don’t have time to look into tasks like this.
system
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Since it’s a “do ocracy” though… please feel free to program/construct/engineer it yourself and offer it to the wikiHaus.
system
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I’m worried concerning the image licensing if we were to create an offline-based app of any kind. Also, concerning the mobile version, how would this bypass data usage? I’m swaying with KP on the unlikely/impossible.
Well done. I’d use it if it was avail. But the fact it doesn’t connect to the Internet kind of hinders things a bit.
system
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Fortunately, for all of us with questions… Genius is volunteering to write the app offline in his spare time. We’re in good hands.
I’m sure he can figure out all the quirks of programming he wants in… oh… say a year or two.
Ttrimm
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@VC
has written an app that is useful. Not sure how similar it is to this, though.
system
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His theory of a future app is to have the ability to create/edit articles and upload images entirely offline. Note, I say “edit articles” despite him saying “and not actual editing as we do online on wikiHow”
because you need to “edit articles” in order to upload images.
Genius_Knight, I suggest reading up on some articles on Wikipedia on how the Internet works, and then coming back and telling us your idea.
system
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Sorry but the more I think about it, the more I think it would be more logical for people to invest in a better internet connection just to upload images to one site. I’m not seeing any clear reason for this app if it’s possible to edit wikiHow in an underground subway on a 100% smartphone data connection.
The note concerning the image licensing issue is because the high amount of people still claiming clear copyright images as their own. What difference/helpfulness would this make if they are images via desktop? Also, phone captured images are seriously the worst thing to upload on wikiHow as far as quality is concerned; as I did that when I started here.
You guys have misunderstood my point a little ! Hopefully this thing clears it up : "You are going to some place while travelling and you are incredibly bored, You think of writing an article but what you see is that there is no signal in that area. You want to write but can’t " Solution: You get this app! Now you keep on writing articles and best of all they are all in wikiHow format. When you get back to home your signal is back an then you can upload your article to wikiHow. Here you saved the lots of editing and copypasting time which we normally use when we write in a notepad and then paste it on wikiHow and also if you created any photos for the steps then they also need not go through the process of uploading them one by one as you would have already uploaded them through the app while offline. The apps idea is to allow the writer write and save time for editing again on wikiHow. Here editing means uploading images that you created yourself and not the images of image picker app and copypasting your written matter, categorization. In short the apps features would be: * Can save time copypasting articles to wikiHow. * Can write simultaneously many articles * Acts as an offline drafts for articles * Easy upload for self created images * Spell checking done in the app which is unavailable on wikiHow when we directly copypaste our article to wikiHow as a result spelling mistakes are not caught. *You can preview offline as to how the article would look like. * The easy publish button almost makes someone feel like a real writer as they write and get it published. * The app will be a boon for very busy users who have hardly any time to come to the site. They can keep writing until some article gets finished and then just a simple touch of publish button and your article is published. Where it will lose? * Since not all users can create their self made photos, they have to comeback to the site to upload images via image picker.( as net is needed to do that) obviously You can’t add images from image picker if you’r offline lol. * You can’t do the “wikiHow editing” in this app as its purely for writing. However you can do that when you are on wikiHow. * The app can’t catch a licensed image. However they will be caught when you are publishing your article as wikiHow will catch these images.
Yes! Just click publish to get your article published. If you want to add images via image picker then you need to be doing it while on wikiHow and you can’t do it when you are offline.(Obviously)
By edit I mean your personal check on the article by adjusting images, spell checking, categorization, preview etc.A revision history will be available within the app but when its published the published its offline revision history won’t be published. Upload only the created images and not the licensed one’s which will be automatically caught when you upload your article on wikiHow for the unlicensed images.
Only difference is ““personal edit”” whose revision history won’t be published unlike the actual editing on wikiHow whose revision theory is present all the time…
I think I sort of get it. Basically the app acts like an offline mobile version of the Guided Editor, so you can write an article as you would as if you were on the actual site. And when you click “Publish”, I assume it saves a draft to the site, and once you get back to an internet connection, you can officially publish it onto wikiHow? It sounds like an interesting concept. But I doubt most people would want to do that much typing on a teeny smartphone. A tablet like an iPad would be more suitable for the app.
Mmhmm. Or a Kindle…=) June Days
system
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Seems to me you could write the article in notepad or word and copy/paste most of it into the article later? Simple. Easy. And doesn’t require writing an App.
