Wikipedia Offline App with in-page search

[kha0s]

The title pretty much says it all. I've carefully searched the "App Store" for an iPhone App that would allow access the entire database of Wikipedia in offline mode. I've found three apps that meet those requirements: Encyclopedia, AllofWiki and Wikipedia Offline.
The thing is I'm an inveterate "in-page search" junkie and, although this does seem to be an ubiquitous functionality among "online" Wikipedia apps (like WikiLookup), I haven't been able to confirm if any of the three "offline" apps mentioned above support "in-page search". Would very much appreciate if someone could shed some light on this.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gokunama]

I have both Encyclopedia and Wikipedia Offline. Not exactly sure what in page search is, but I'm guessing you can find every mention of a subject in wikipedia? If that's correct, than neither of those two apps has that. You can contact the developers for both Wikipedia Offline and AllofWiki Offline and ask if those are planned features. Both are very responsive. I haven't seen any major updates from the developers of Encyclopedia though, although they could surprise us with a killer update like I've seen one developer do after thinking they had abandoned the app.

 

[kha0s]

Check the WikiLookup link above to see screen-shots of what I mean with "in-page search". Imagine seeing a Wikipedia article in plain old Firefox. Hit "Ctrl+F" and start typing to perform "search as you type" on the entire article. That's the feature I'm looking for. Can you please double-check if either Encyclopedia or Wikipedia Offline support it?

 

[Gokunama]

I see.

Encyclopedia really doesn't have many features. I contacted the developer to see if article outlines (table of contents) or tables of info have been or would be added later, and he said article outlines are planned, but tables of info aren't (to keep the download size smaller). In short even the most basic feature of article outlines that means we don't have to do a lot of scrolling to get to a section of a long article still hasn't been added. I do have the app just in case you suddenly started wondering, but it's no longer on my iPhone, it was deleted and replaced with AllofWiki. Encyclopedia is really quite a basic app, pretty sure you don't want this one.

AllofWiki doesn't have in page search.

I've sent emails off to both AllofWiki and Wikipedia Offline's developers asking them if that feature is planned or even under consideration for an update. Might take them a day or two to get back to me seeing as it's the weekend and I'm on a very different timezone from them.

 

[kha0s]

Thanks a lot mate! I gather from your reply that the three mentioned apps really are all there is in the "wikipedia offline" game. If that's not so and you know about any other app that meets the requirements, feel free to mention it. Also, since you've tried all three, which one would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[Gokunama]

Whoops, no I don't have all three, dunno why I put down I had Wikipedia Offline.

AllofWiki is decent, although they're still fixing up some missing articles in the A section, missing links, like the names of carriers involved in the battle for midway island that are in parentheses in the article, and a few links that don't work, like tapping blitzkreig under WWII doesn't take you to the blitzkreig article. The developers are working very hard to get those fixed though.

Wikipedia Offline seems to have a few people getting crashes, but also some satisfied customers. The developer is very interested in making it a great app, and I've talked to him about future functions. The app doesn't have the tables of info yet though, so if you want to see a band's discography, it's just not there. That is a planned feature for an update though.

Encyclopedia is very basic. Not even outlines are included, so you've got to do a lot of scrolling to get to say demographics under the United States. That's planned for an update, but as it was the first full offline wikipedia app in the game, it's a function that really should've been added long long ago.

Currently, I'd say AllofWiki is the best out there, but Wikipedia Offline is not far behind, and it may become my app of choice if they implement new functions better than AllofWiki Offline.

There is one other app I know of called TiniWiki. Terrible interface, and it appears it hasn't been updated since it's release.

 

[kha0s]

Roger that. I'll give AllofWiki a try this afternoon. In the meanwhile, if you get any replies on the "in-page search" issue, don't hesitate in posting them here. I'll also try to contact AllofWiki and Wikipedia Offline developers about that.

Cheers

 

[Gokunama]

Wikipedia Offline - They sent back telling me he's definitely considering it, he's just trying to figure out how he'd implement it in an intuitive way.

 

[kha0s]

I see... Did they give you any hint about a concrete time frame for deployment?

 

[Gokunama]

Actually, I'll just copy and paste his response here.

I'm definitely thinking about it. I have most of the parts I need to implement that feature. I'm in the middle of an interface redesign and I need to find the best way to integrate that feature so that it's intuitive. Maybe when you click in the search box there are two split buttons: "Search Wikipedia" and "Search Current Page"?