A few days ago, developers of a web site dedicated to superstar Rajnikanth boasted that their creation allaboutrajni.com worked only when the user’s PC was unplugged from the internet. Type the URL in your browser window, and as soon as the home page is loaded, it asks you to disconnect from the internet to see the rest of the content. “It runs on Rajni power,” they said.
Impossible? Not really. Underlying the smart prank was a very simple trick: All web sites contain several elements, including scripts that execute certain functions as and when required. Now some of this code is stored locally on your computer while the rest is run from the site’s servers. In the case of allaboutrajni.com, its programmers cleverly used scripts to store content on the user’s hard disk, before asking them to disconnect from the internet.
And then, as soon as another piece of code detects that the connection is lost, it serves up the stuff that is stored on the local PC.
Well, the Rajni site was pure gimmickry, but think about what similar technology can do for you. You can access your e-mail inbox when there is no internet connection, or browse through Wikipedia on a laptop even when you’re out of network circles…
Offline Gmail
To check your Gmail offline, you will first need to install Google’s Chrome browser. Once you have it up and running, access the Chrome Store, login using your Google account, search for the Offline Gmail app and install it.
After this, every time you connect to internet and open your Gmail through Chrome, the app will download and store your mails locally on your computer. In fact, emails dating back to up to one month can be stored on your PC, allowing you to read, search and archive mails offline.
You can also compose new – or reply to – emails, which lie dormant in your Outbox, but are sent as soon as an active internet connection is detected.
Get it from: Chrome Store in the Chrome browser
Kiwix
In January, Wikipedia went offline for 24 hours to protest against US anti-piracy laws. But wiki addicts who had Kiwix installed, still got their daily dose of the peoplepowered encyclopedia.
Available in both Mac and Windows versions, Kiwix allows you to download Wikipedia content on to your hard drive. After installing the software, you will also need to download the .zim file that contains Wikipedia articles. Given its content – 45,000 topics – the English version file is over 3GB in size (torrent download available).
Once downloaded, open Kiwix and point it to the data. The software then indexes the content, after which you can search and browse the articles. The application boasts a good interface, and almost all the links work. (Though some of the content might be outdated. The .zim file for the English language, for instance, was updated in December 2010).
If you’re looking for a more updated alternative, you might also want to consider WikiTaxi, which is similar to Kiwix, but with a less user-friendly interface. Get it from: www.kiwix.org and www.wikitaxi.org
Rip a web site
Wikipedia is an extreme case, but what if you just want to carry along a small web site, say, the entire contents of your blogs? For this, there are software known as web site rippers or offline browsers that allow users to do exactly that. Two of them, HT Track and PageNest, are very capable programs though the latter has better interface.
Rippers work by downloading all the elements of a web site – HTML files, internal links, scripts etc – on the computer’s hard drive. Once complete, you can surf the content using your normal browser. Of course, depending on the type of elements used on the resource, some content may not be available. For example, embedded videos won’t play offline. But pictures and text work just fine. Get it from: www.httrack.com or pagenest.com
Read It Later
This is the tool to get if – instead of full web sites – you are just looking to save lengthy articles or essays for offline reading. Read It Later is available for Firefox as an extension, and as an app for the Apple and Android devices.
To start using the software, you have to first create an account with the service. Once that is done, add it to your browser if you are on a mobile device, or install the extension in Firefox. After that, just use the functionality to save pages – either full or text-only – while browsing.
Offline reading is just one feature in Read It Later. But in India where internet connectivity can prove to be quite a problem, this is a useful software to have. Get it from: readitlaterlist.com
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