Hello and How do I show HTML pages on the iPad?

[JimmyHill]

So I just got an iPad - it's a second-hand one but No less of a thrill.
Didn't give much though to actually what to do with it before buying... But now I'm here, I'm wondering: How do I: save and show HTML pages on the iPad? Ideally I'd like to preview websites to test and show to clients, which are not online... Possible? If so, how, please?

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

Good to hear from you. You’ll find a whole bunch of iPad enthusiasts in this Forum who are only too willing to help other iPad owners and to hear of their experiences. Don’t be afraid to post any questions you may have or use the ‘Search’ button near the top of the Forum web page. I usually find I discover one new interesting and useful piece of information about my iPad every day - and often not even what I was looking for!!

Hope to hear from you soon with your thoughts about the iPad.

Have fun and enjoy your iPad

Although the iPad browser can't display HTML pages off-line, it is possible to save web pages as PDF documents using a 'bookmarklet'. This creates a PDF files that's an exact copy of the web page that you're viewing. The good news is that you can then view that page off-line using a PDF reader, such as iBooks. The bad news is, of course, that embedded hyperlinks don't function as such.

If you don’t already have it you can download a copy of the iPad manual for free.

Apple - Support - Manuals

Please read the rules too!!

http://www.ipadforums.net/forum-rules-help-info/2119-forum-rules-everybody-please-read.html

Tim
Scotland

 

[JimmyHill]

Thanks, Tim, another early-bird,eh?
I undersand your answer, but it is curious that it can't be done, don't you agree? The PDF method would be fine for quite static pages, but these days there's often some scripting, animation or image effects that are integral to a web page. I guess they just need to be seen online so no great problem.

Thanks again and I'm sure there will be other questions.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

It may be that there are some third-party browsers that can load stored HTML pages. I'm sure you'll get some recommendations over the next few hours....but, you're right, it's strange that the Safari browser can't load HTML pages.

Yes - early to bed, early to rise - or something like that...

Tim

 

[rjbradlow]

If you really must use your iPad for this purpose instead of a laptop or cheap portable with a web server and a wireless router then you can check out these two apps available via Cydia... You can google them too.
>>> lighttpd & file:// for MobileSafari <<<

I just installed them on my iPad(v1) to test out your idea, but jumped the gun and posted before actually trying them because it's late and I need to get some sleep.

Option 2 is to search the Apple App store For 'web browser' and look for the Offline browsers which save content to your iPad. >>>h t t p : / / o f f l i n e p a g . e s /<<<

Best to you.

 

[JimmyHill]

If you really must use your iPad for this purpose instead of a laptop or cheap portable with a web server and a wireless router then you can check out these two apps available via Cydia... You can google them too.
>>> lighttpd & file:// for MobileSafari <<<

I just installed them on my iPad(v1) to test out your idea, but jumped the gun and posted before actually trying them because it's late and I need to get some sleep.

Option 2 is to search the Apple App store For 'web browser' and look for the Offline browsers which save content to your iPad. >>>h t t p : / / o f f l i n e p a g . e s /<<<

Best to you.

Thanks for your reply although I detect a bit of disaproval ("...If you really must...") and think I understand your anxiety; to seek your approval may I say that I do have and use a MacBook Pro with extensive server facilities for that purpose. I hope you would agree that any current web project ought to be tested on a variety of hand-held devices and for me, the iPad is top of that list. Which is why I'm looking for that functionality.

Your suggestions are much appreciated and I'll certainly look into them.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[Tim SPRACKLEN]

If you really must use your iPad for this purpose instead of a laptop or cheap portable with a web server and a wireless router then you can check out these two apps available via Cydia... You can google them too.
>>> lighttpd & file:// for MobileSafari <<<

I just installed them on my iPad(v1) to test out your idea, but jumped the gun and posted before actually trying them because it's late and I need to get some sleep.

Option 2 is to search the Apple App store For 'web browser' and look for the Offline browsers which save content to your iPad. >>>h t t p : / / o f f l i n e p a g . e s /<<<

Best to you.

Thanks for your reply although I detect a bit of disaproval ("...If you really must...") and think I understand your anxiety; to seek your approval may I say that I do have and use a MacBook Pro with extensive server facilities for that purpose. I hope you would agree that any current web project ought to be tested on a variety of hand-held devices and for me, the iPad is top of that list. Which is why I'm looking for that functionality.

Your suggestions are much appreciated and I'll certainly look into them.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

Also, you'd need to jail break the iPad to use that poster's suggestion, and I'm guessing that you don't necessarily want to do that.

Tim

 

[rjbradlow]

Thanks for your reply although I detect a bit of disaproval ("...If you really must...") and think I understand your anxiety; to seek your approval may I say that I do have and use a MacBook Pro with extensive server facilities for that purpose. I hope you would agree that any current web project ought to be tested on a variety of hand-held devices and for me, the iPad is top of that list. Which is why I'm looking for that functionality.

Your suggestions are much appreciated and I'll certainly look into them.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

Sorry about the disapproval implication. I understand your desire and intentions, however; I do not understand why a developer would want to tax the limited memory (not storage) of the iPad by trying to run a server directly on it.
While I agree with you about testing other devices, there are other less challenging options to help you succeed in testing whatever device you wish wherever you may roam instead of trying to deploy a web server directly on each device.
Further complications will arise as your web pages evolve away from static.

Personally, I would use my

MacBook Pro with extensive server facilities for that purpose.

Along with a mobile hotspot or wifi router.

Also, yes you would have to jailbreak your iPad in order to make it do much of anything past what Apple approves.

Best regards,
RJBradlow

 

[JimmyHill]

Sorry about the disapproval implication. I understand your desire and intentions, however; I do not understand why a developer would want to tax the limited memory (not storage) of the iPad by trying to run a server directly on it.
While I agree with you about testing other devices, there are other less challenging options to help you succeed in testing whatever device you wish wherever you may roam instead of trying to deploy a web server directly on each device.
Further complications will arise as your web pages evolve away from static.

Personally, I would use my
Along with a mobile hotspot or wifi router.

Also, yes you would have to jailbreak your iPad in order to make it do much of anything past what Apple approves.

Best regards,
RJBradlow

Thanks again, and I do agree with you. I'm no developer so my lack of technical knowledge has been exposed here!
The jailbreak thing doesn't appeal and I've found the browser apps that do 'offline' seem a bit flaky (eg no images etc) so - your solution is good enough.
Cheers.

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[OUTL4W]

Doesn't goodReader save HTML webpages for offline viewing?

 

[DM51]

Doesn't goodReader save HTML webpages for offline viewing?

To save a file from Safari to GoodReader:

1. Open the file of interest in Safari

2. Tap Safari's address bar (the keyboard will appear)

3. Go to the very beginning of the file's URL address, where the http:// or https:// part is

4. Add a single letter g in front of the address, so you'll get ghttp:// or ghttps:// instead of http:// or https://

5. Press Go on the keyboard (this will close Safari and start GoodReader)
the file will start to download into GoodReader automatically (check Web Downloads section to find it)

Note: If you plan to do this often, you can simplify this process substantially. In GoodReader's settings, General section, tap the button called Put special address to clipboard. Then go to Safari and create a new bookmark. Bookmarking absolutely any page will do. Name this bookmark, for example, Save to GoodReader. Then press the bookmark button, and then Edit. Select this new bookmark. Now Safari will let you modify an address of this bookmark. Delete the old address and paste the text from the clipboard (GoodReader has prepared this special text for you). Save the modified bookmark address. Selecting this bookmark when a page of interest is opened is the same as adding the g letter in front of this page's address.

 

[rjbradlow]

Along the Apple IOS web server lines, here's something noteworthy:


One of the fun projects going on at Mac Mini Vault is our Apple TV webserver. As much as we &lsquo;d love to see how many Apple TV&rsquo;s we could mount into a data center cabinet, it will never be a sustainable service to offer. This project was a fun way to see how far we could take the A4 powered Apple TV. The Apple TV is running iOS 4.2.2 (obviously jailbroken) with lighttpd for a web server. You can see the webpage we set up by visiting atv.macminivault.com. We&rsquo;ll keep an eye on the CPU load and watch the analytics to record how much traffic the Apple TV receives.

h tt p : / / w ww . macminivault . com/atv-webserver/
( remove spaces, I haven't met the 3 post min. required to post links until this post, being the third. )

 

[info]

iCabMobile will save the page for you very easily.

 

[JimmyHill]

iCabMobile will save the page for you very easily.

Thanks... This looks good. Much appreciated

Sent from my iPad using iPF

 

[DrHouse]

If you want to use those saved HTML file to do some sort of presentation, I would simply make snapshots of them using the built in screen capture. Pressing home button and sleep button at the same time will take a snapshot of whatever is displayed on your iPad and save those in your album photo.

The benefit of doing so are:

1 - you make sure that nothing will go wrong while showing results to your customers
2 - if there is a playing video or any special html5 effects, you will have the result offline anyway
3 - using the images, you could create a presentation power point style... See app EasyShow
4 - the images can be reused over and over again
5 - you can insert annotation, highlights on you images

On the down side...

1 - no scrolling available or navigation
2 - takes a bit more space... Does that really matter?


I'm a big fan of Murphy's Law, and when it comes to customer presentation, experience showed me that the less interactive, the better

My 2 cents!

VicoPad addict!