Wikipedia:Historical archive/WikiReader

This page is currently inactive and is retained for historical reference.
Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus on its purpose has become unclear. To revive discussion, seek broader input via a forum such as the village pump. It was last substantively updated 23 August 2008‎.

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WP:WR

WikiReaders are collections of articles from Wikipedia on a certain topic, in the form of PDFs published for download and intended to be printed, and also to be sold in printed form.

Their intention is to start a revision process on this topic and clarify the current state of this topic.

The state of the WikiReader project for other languages is at meta:WikiReader.

Currently, the German Wikipedia has three WikiReaders for sale, and several to download. The German Wikipedians are thus the pioneers of printing Wikipedia material. If you know German, read de:Wikipedia:WikiReader, and help us catch up and become "published".

Mirror of WikiReaders (mostly German now, since the other languages have to catch up first)

Wikipedia:Stable versions has the most appropriate articles for use in print.

Released

Frankfurt

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Frankfurt
Scope - Frankfurt, Germany
Editor - Qoop
Release date - August 4, 2005
Printed: This Wikireader is being printed by Qoop.com for Wikimania.

Decade Volcanoes

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Decade Volcanoes
Editor: Worldtraveller
Scope: Decade Volcanoes - those identified as the most hazardous and worthy of particular study
v1.2 released 2 June 2006. PDF file here (1.60Mb). Please comment and give feedback!
Printed: ?

To be released

Free Software and Free Contents

details and TOC: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Free Software and Free Contents
current editor: User:TomK32
release date: final PDF in August 2004.
current preview-PDF: PDF (660kB)

Proposed

Australian Gold Coast

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Gold Coast
Editor: Nathannoblet
Scope: Just about the gold coast
Release date: Begun 2006.10.13. Close to first draft ready 2006.11.23.

2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities
Editor: Kevin Baas
Scope: well 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities and sub-pages for starters. Also relevant laws, history, etc.
Release date: Begun 2006.02.26. No release date.

Solar System

Details: User:Worldtraveller/Solar System WikiReader
Editor: Worldtraveller
Scope: Objects within the Solar System
Release date: As soon as possible!
Status: Getting the articles on the contents list up to scratch - several are featured, most have plenty of content, but general copyediting and polishing is required.

Spoiler Warning: A Wikipedia reader's digest

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Spoiler Warning
Editor: Stbalbach
Scope: The best of Wikipedia Spoiler Warnings
Release date: project begun May 2005, no release date.
Status: Looking for articles to be included!
Note: Reader's Digest® is a registered trademark for a magazine and various books published by the company of the same name in the United States, and it will need a different name.

A History of the 20th Century

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/A History of the 20th Century
Scope - Essentially Modern History, with a hopefully far broader scope than Wikipedia:World War II wikireader.
Editor - Mark Lewis
Release date - ?
PDF - demo, with pics [1]

Cetacea / Whales

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Cetacea
Scope: A collection of all articles concerning Cetacea (Species, Taxa, General)
Editor(s): Achim Raschka
Release date: 2005 (maybe printed)
Status: at the beginning, a German Reader as a "template" exists

Methods of Molecular Biology

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader Methods of Molecular Biology
Scope - Methods of Molecular Biology.
Editor - Magnus Manske
Release date -

Poetries: National and International

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Poetries National and International
Scope: A book of the articles describing and analysing 'poetries national and international', including the significant British, French, Irish, Urdu and Japanese categories within Wikipedia, as well as various lesser-known international poetries and poets.
Editor: EuropracBHIT
Release date: March 14 2005 (putatively).

Software Engineering

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Software Engineering
Scope:
Languages: English, German
Link collection: here
Article improvement drive: here
Editors: Hans-AC, ...
Release date: unknown (end of 2005?)

The Best of Wikipedia: Featured Articles, February 2004 - March 2004

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Best of Wikipedia Feb-March 2004
Scope: Comprising each of the featured articles from the time period listed above.
Editor: Lyellin
Release date: None Set.

Twentieth-Century Hollywood

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Twentieth Century Hollywood
Scope: Locates Hollywood in time and space (Part 1), talks about the people (Part 2-1 roles such as actors, directors, producers and cinematographers, while Part 2-2 concentrates on biographical data about the figures), the institutions (such as Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Paramount, MGM and Dreamworks) and the films that have made and shaped 20th century Hollywood, including Best Pictures editorially selected, as well as B-films and certain genres.
Editor: User:EuropracBHIT
Release date: Putatively, October 1st 2004. See Details for a more detailed timeline.

William Shakespeare

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/William Shakespeare
Scope: About Shakespearan life and authorship and influence, as well as coverage of his most famous work
Editor: ✏ SverdrupSverdrup
Release date: Unknown

World War II

Details: Wikipedia:World War II wikireader
Scope - World War II-related topics - people, events, projects, devices.
Editor - Raul654
Release date - Postponed/no set date

History of Latin America

Details: Wikipedia:History of Latin America Wikireader
Scope - History of the 19 countries of Latin America
Editor - Youssef
Versions - 0.2 in pdf not publishable, 186 pp all included
Release date - Postponed/no set date

Taipei

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Taipei
Scope - Taipei related topics
Editor - Students of National Taiwan University Computer Science and Information Engineering Department.
Release date - Wikimania 2007

The Simpsons

Details: Wikipedia:WikiReader/The_Simpsons
Scope - The Simpsons related articles
Editor - cast_unshaken_kiloherz
Release date - Postponed/no set date

Suggestions

A compilation of Wikipedia's best unusual articles - suggested content list: Wikipedia:WikiReader/Encyclopaedia of the unusual
A compilation of some of the best articles that have arisen from current events.
A compilation of different sub categories from the Portal:Business and Economics (please move if wrong place Cryptonit)
A compilation of articles related to The Beatles

Resources

OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a free application that has been used for the first wikireaders to create PDFs.

There is an OpenOffice.org Template for German WikiReaders and there is a (unofficial) template in English. The English version is basically a copy (layout) of the German one.

Wiki -> PDF

The German Wikipedia project used Gynecology Reader use WIKI->PDFSkript to make a reader. This service was taken down in August 2005 because of software bugs, and has not been reactivated.

What worked:

Basic formatting: bold, italics,
Headers,
Wiki-links and external links,
Lists and indentation

What the script couldn't yet handle:

Images
Tables
Templates

Other

Scribus is also a free text editor with PDF-export possibilities.
The Eclipse Wikipedia Editor with PDF Exporter (proof-of-concept) uses iText, a free Java PDF library for converting HTML to PDF.