Re: [Offline-l] XOWA write up

[Federico Leva (Nemo)]

gnosygnu, 10/12/2016 06:53:

I hope this is enough information for you.


Thanks for outlining the use cases. Can you please paste this text into 
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Offline_Projects/XOWA , so that it's 
easier to find in the future?


Nemo

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Re: [Offline-l] XOWA write up

[Jon Katz]

Asaf, thank you for noting the email. I hadn't yet joined the list when it
was sent and somehow missed the mention when looking through the archives.

Gnosygnu,  Thank you for all of this context and answering my questions. I
downloaded the Android version and am playing around with it now.  The
Wikimedia Foundation's New Reader
's initiative has identified
offline  use of online
content as a focus area and so your work and results are very relevant.

I am sorry that lack of feedback has been an issue.  Our vision and
ecosystem are so massive that it is often challenging for staff to be both
focused and aware of all of the other important work that is going on.
Interest fluctuates as well: depending on what we are working on, a
particular long-standing project might have significant overlap with our
initiatives or be equally important/valuable and yet necessarily separate
from our focus.  I don't have any brilliant answers for how we improve on
this, but wanted to at least give an explanation for why interesting work
sometimes doesn't get the attention it ideally should.  I am glad that your
enthusiasm hasn't taken a hit!

Best,

J

On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 9:53 PM, gnosygnu  wrote:

> @Asaf: Thanks for remembering the email! It was indeed the late hours
> of July 31st [1]. It always feels good to hear from someone who
> notices your emails. :)
>
> @Jon: I had been posting regularly to this mailing list, but was
> discouraged by the lack of feedback. I've still been releasing XOWA
> regularly over the past two years, so my enthusiasm for the project
> hasn't abated.[2]
>
> In terms of use cases, XOWA appeals primarily to these types of users:
> * Technology enthusiasts who are passionate about Wikipedia: XOWA
> allows a complete, recent copy of Wikipedia on your computer or
> device. This concept appeals to people who understand the value of
> Wikipedia and love the idea of having all of it sitting on their
> computer. XOWA's primary draw here is that it allows you to build a
> Wikipedia with just the wikitext dump. Of course, some of XOWA's
> features are particularly distinguishing and attractive in their own
> right[3].
> * Users with limited network availability who want a Wikipedia
> experience: XOWA reproduces the look and feel of Wikipedia in a
> browser. This ranges from offering the same page layout (for example,
> the sidebar on the left) to having similar JavaScript behavior (for
> example, sortable tables). As such XOWA could be deployed as a drop-in
> replacement for Wikipedia. Note that XOWA also has an HTTP Server
> mode, so it can function as an isolated server for a group of local
> users. Also, XOWA Android has the same look and feel as an older
> version of the Wikipedia Mobile app (they've since changed that look
> and feel in the past few months)
> * MediaWiki users who want an offline version of their wiki: XOWA
> supports a wide range of MediaWiki functions and extensions. As such,
> it handles all 820+ known wikis[4] across 250+ languages and 10+
> different wiki types. It even handles a read-only Wikidata[5]. It can
> also be used to offline Wikia wikis, as well as other sites that run
> on MediaWiki
> * Developers / boutique users who want to do "custom things" with
> Wikipedia: XOWA stores all its data in SQLite, does on-demand parsing,
> and makes this all available through API calls. It's also open-source.
> As such, various customizations are possible:
> ** Those who want to generate HTML dumps so they can scrape the HTML
> for research or analytical purposes
> ** Those who want to parse any wikitext to HTML to do editing or have
> their "personal" version of a wiki
> ** Those who want to build an education-friendly version of Wikipedia
> without "offensive" content
>
> In terms of adoption, XOWA is still very small. XOWA averages
> something like 600 to 700 downloads per week for the past year [6]. I
> don't do any self-promotion, and really have been relying on word of
> mouth. As an independent developer, programming takes up nearly all my
> time and skill set, and leaves little (if any) for marketing. Of
> course, I'd love to have any help on this. Just as Asaf indicated, I
> also know of no direct involvement in XOWA by anyone at Wikimedia, but
> would welcome any participation.
>
> I hope this is enough information for you. Please feel free to let me
> know if you need anything more here, or reach out to me off-list for
> further discussion.
>
> Thanks!
>
> 
>
> [1]: See https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/offline-l/2016-August/
> 001359.html
> [2]: For example, here are my releases in 2015:
> http://xowa.org/home/wiki/Change_log/2015.html
> [3]: Some of XOWA's notable features:
> * Up-to date: XOWA imports directly from the dumps at
> https://dumps.wikimedia.org/backup-index.html . As these dumps are
> generated on a bi-weekly basis, XOWA allows you