Hi
Kiwix is a 10 years old software suite developed to give access to Web
content to people with no Internet access. It works a bit like a digital
offline library.
Its older piece, Kiwix desktop, is a classic desktop application for
Windows and Linux which reads data files with the extension *.zim. It
displays the content like a Web browser would do.
Based on the deprecated Xulrunner framework of Mozilla, Kiwix desktop
has now reached it end of lifecycle and also urgently needs a full
revamping of its user interface, using the Qt windowing library.
As far as features go, the new version of kiwix-desktop should more or
less offer the same functionalities as the older version:
* Portable on Windows/Linux
* Internationalization and localization support
* Remote and local library management
* Loading, displaying an searching in the ZIM files
* Tabulations
* Bookmarking/reading list
Most of the application’s “core” already exists as a software library
called Kiwix library. Most of the work is about binding it with a new –
and yet to be created – user interface.
You would work in close collaboration with a UX expert/UI designer and
with the C++ developer of the core library kiwix-lib. This work is part
of a more global effort to improve the Kiwix software as a whole.
You are a developer committed to (or at least familiar with) open source
software, and familiar with GNU/Linux. You already have a small working
experience with Qt and C++ (on personal projects for example). Ideally
you will to share, explain, and demonstrate a past project (for example
on Github).
This internship is paid ~1000€/month and takes place in Lyon, France.
The work will be organised and framed by an experienced developer
familiar with the project.
Candidates interested by this internship should send an email (cover
letter and CV) to Matthieu Gautier (mgautier at kymeria.fr).
Here is the online version of this open position:
http://www.kiwix.org/internship-c-qt-6-months/
Regards
Emmanuel
--
Kiwix - Wikipedia Offline & more
* Web: http://www.kiwix.org
* Twitter: https://twitter.com/KiwixOffline
* more: http://www.kiwix.org/wiki/Communication
That's right, Nicolas.
Wikisource and Wikibooks do not use OCG for most of their PDF rendering.
This pause of functionality will only impact PDFs created through Book
Creator, and not impact the workflows you describe as you're using
different rendering services for PDFs. Books previously generated using OCG
will not be impacted, either.
Wikibooks does have the book creator tool, called "Creation Collector,"
which will be impacted. I'm not sure how much it's used there.
Unfortunately, OCG is in a state where it can't be maintained and we need
to deprecate it in order to maintain security. There are other reasons for
moving to a new service. For example, OCG can't render tables. If you look
at the mediawiki page I linked earlier[1] you can see the rest of the
rationale and the timeline for the changes.
I'm adding Olga Vasileva, the product manager leading this work, for any
further questions.
Thanks,
Anne
1- https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Reading/Web/PDF_Functionality
On Wed, Oct 11, 2017 at 2:01 AM, Nicolas VIGNERON <
vigneron.nicolas(a)gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi everyone,
>
> Maybe I'm misunderstood the situation but I'm not sure to understand the
> problem: does anyone use OCG?
>
> I thought that not one use it anymore (if it was ever used... at least onf
> the French wikisource it never really worked well as it didn't understand
> the 'pages' tag we use on almost all pages) and we have our own
> PDF/ePub/mobi generator (https://tools.wmflabs.org/wsexport/tool/book.php).
> SO don't we all use WSexport?
>
> I see very few pages on https://en.wikisource.org/w/
> index.php?title=Special:PrefixIndex&prefix=Wikisource:Books/ , most of
> them generated a long time ago, so I don't think that this will have any
> impact on Wikisource.
>
> Cdlt, ~nicolas
>
--
*Anne Gomez* // Senior Program Manager, New Readers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers>
https://wikimediafoundation.org/
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate
<http://donate.wikimedia.org>. *
Hey All
Hardware arrived today for 100 devices. I have 12 assembled so far.
Final average cost of the hardwards is 27 USD.
I am planning to accept orders through a Google doc form.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmSX2TOhwAhIRCGfkIv2Don5o58vVcv5q…
I will than email people and inform them of the exact cost with
shipping and taxes included. They will than be asked to deposit money
into WPMEDF's paypal account and the device will than be shipped.
Further thoughts?
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
Cross-post.
-Adam
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Adam Baso <abaso(a)wikimedia.org>
Date: Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 4:16 PM
Subject: Demo of offline in the Wikipedia for Android app
To: Wikimedia developers <wikitech-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
Hi all -
I wanted to share a cool demo with you recorded by Dmitry Brant from the
apps team at the Wikimedia Foundation. Dmitry demos an alpha version of the
app that adds support for offline ZIM files.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iESP20HGPiE
The feature will be undergoing some changes based on the research Dmitry
mentions. To learn more about the research Dmitry mentions in the video,
see https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Offline_
support/V1_User_research.
Enjoy!
-Adam
I would agree that among the general public size below 100 mbs is
desired. Among professionals in a specific topic area I bet the
pattern will be different as we have nearly 100 K active users of the
offline medical apps.
James
On Thu, Sep 28, 2017 at 12:21 AM,
<offline-l-request(a)lists.wikimedia.org> wrote:
> Send Offline-l mailing list submissions to
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>
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>
> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
> than "Re: Contents of Offline-l digest..."
>
>
> Today's Topics:
>
> 1. Research reports: Android app reading ZIM files (Anne Gomez)
> 2. Re: Research reports: Android app reading ZIM files
> (Stéphane Coillet-Matillon)
> 3. Re: Research reports: Android app reading ZIM files (Rita Ho)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2017 14:11:19 -0700
> From: Anne Gomez <agomez(a)wikimedia.org>
> To: Using Wikimedia projects and MediaWiki offline
> <offline-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
> Subject: [Offline-l] Research reports: Android app reading ZIM files
> Message-ID:
> <CAG8+Sm4AvjmkhaA75dGC9om4fggeV0QkSr323YqLksUcDEnqsg(a)mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> Hello offliners!
>
> The Foundation has been working on building in support for ZIM files to the
> Android App for Wikipedia. We're been in touch with Emmanuel quite a bit
> about how this might work.
>
> We've taken on some user research in 2 forms to support this work.
>
> 1. An online usability study using usertesting.com
> 2. An on the ground study in Pune, India
>
> You can see the results from both studies here (linked in "Research
> findings"):
> https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Offline_support/V1_User_resea…
>
> The biggest takeaways that I think will be interesting to you folks are
> around size and topic of content. Respondents are largely uninterested in
> large file sizes (over 100MB) and would prefer that these files be very
> topic specific. These are people working from their own Android phones, who
> have connectivity at least some of the time.
>
> Let me know if you have any questions.
> Anne
>
> --
> *Anne Gomez* // Senior Program Manager, New Readers
> <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers>
> https://wikimediafoundation.org/
>
>
> *Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
> sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate
> <http://donate.wikimedia.org>. *
>
Hello offliners!
The Foundation has been working on building in support for ZIM files to the
Android App for Wikipedia. We're been in touch with Emmanuel quite a bit
about how this might work.
We've taken on some user research in 2 forms to support this work.
1. An online usability study using usertesting.com
2. An on the ground study in Pune, India
You can see the results from both studies here (linked in "Research
findings"):
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Apps/Offline_support/V1_User_resea…
The biggest takeaways that I think will be interesting to you folks are
around size and topic of content. Respondents are largely uninterested in
large file sizes (over 100MB) and would prefer that these files be very
topic specific. These are people working from their own Android phones, who
have connectivity at least some of the time.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Anne
--
*Anne Gomez* // Senior Program Manager, New Readers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers>
https://wikimediafoundation.org/
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate
<http://donate.wikimedia.org>. *
We have finalized and tested the image for the alpha version of
internet-in-a-box. We have purchased 100 units which should be shipped
in the next couple of days. Final cost comes in at $33CAD / $27USD per
unit. They contain all of WPs healthcare content in English, Arabic,
and Spanish plus the ability to download our offline medical apps to
your phone. Additional content include practical action, medical
videos by healthphone, and openstreetmaps.
Hopefully shipping within two weeks. Pre-orders here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmSX2TOhwAhIRCGfkIv2Don5o58vVcv5q…
--
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian
Hello y'all,
Quick announcement: we're putting a small grant request with the
Wikimedia Foundation [1]: the overall goal is to improve our user
experience, starting with the long overdue desktop UX/UI revamp.
All comments (and endorsements) are welcome; and if you know a great
UX/UI engineer, let us know!
Stephane
[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Grants:Project/Kiwix/User_Experience
Hello offliners!
In case you didn't know it, we hosted a session at Wikimania to talk about
access as it is impacted by the cost of data. Offline access is one of the
potential solutions to bridge that gap.
Jorge Vargas led the panel, which I was on alongside Stephane
Coillet-Matillon (Kiwix), Adam Holt (Internet in a Box), Florence Devuoard
(Wikifundi + Wiki Loves Women + more), and James Heilman (Wikimedicine
Project + Wikimedia Foundation board).
We had a great discussion and it was, for me, a great kickoff into the
off.network hackathon the following day.
I've published notes from the session here for those of you who are
interested:
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Offline_Projects/Wikimania_17_session_notes
As always, let me/us know if you have any questions or follow up comments.
I look forward to continued collaboration in the future!
Anne
--
*Anne Gomez* // Senior Program Manager, New Readers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/New_Readers>
https://wikimediafoundation.org/
*Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the
sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment. Donate
<http://donate.wikimedia.org>. *
[Cross-post]
A quick note to announce that Kiwix released this morning a new version of the Wikimed App called Wikimed Mini [1]. It basically complements the earlier app in that it is 90% smaller and should therefore make it easier to download and store by users who need it most (50% of installs for the English version happen on the Indian subcontinent; for the French one, 80% are in Africa).
But apart from this PSA I wanted to share the thinking that went behind the design of this particular app, as I’ve been told it could be of interest to this list:
There basically were three reasons for this "mini" version:
1. When connectivity is an issue, size does matter. If you look at the 20+ main offline medical apps out there, you'll see that they all range in the 25-40Mb (the largest being 120Mb). Several of them have 1M+ downloads, and even if I am no physician I'd say their content is rather minimal and that WP content is far better: yet people download the other, smaller apps rather than our gigantic, all-encompassing 1.2 Gb one;
2. You may have heard that thing about 60% of mobile readers not going past the Lead section [2]. We did too, and took the drastic step of removing everything below that - basically keeping only the lead part and infobox. That saved us about 60%;
3. Then we looked at what was left and figured that infobox illustrations weren't that helpful: either because they look good but are not very informative, or because if they are in fact informative offline limitations make it impossible to see more than a thumbnail. Don't get me wrong: the ability to see high-res images comes high on the list of requests, but a choice was to be made and that one was a low-hanging fruit. So we removed the illustations as well, and now we're left with a 90% smaller app.
In spite of its size, the current Wikimed is rated higher (4.7) and kept longer (75% retention at D30) that most apps (4.2/20%, respectively on average): we’ll keep you posted on how the new app fares in comparison to that.
Cheers,
Stephane
[1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedm… <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimedm…>
[2] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Which_parts_of_an_article_do_reade… <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Which_parts_of_an_article_do_reade…>