Difference between revisions of "Mission"

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We even believe the file format could be flexible enough to support any kind of web data.
We even believe the file format could be flexible enough to support any kind of web data.


The general goals we want to achieve are:
== What openZIM is ==
* the file format is '''the most efficient''' and works on '''all platforms''', embedded devices and desktop computers
* The ZIM file format is the most efficient and works on all platforms, embedded devices and desktop computers.
* the file format is '''used by all kind of publishers''' and even outside the Wikimedia community
* The ZIM file format is used by all kind of publishers, even outside the Wikimedia community.
* both reader applications and content files are '''freely interchangeable'''
* Both ZIM reader applications and ZIM files are freely interchangeable.
* everyone can implement software for this file format because it is in a '''open and documented standard'''
* Everyone can implement software for ZIM files because it is in a open and documented standard.
* there is at least one '''free implementation''' which is open source
* There is at least one free implementation which is open source, the [[zimlib]].
* the free implementation '''can be used easily in other software''' to make it easy to use the file format without having to implement it
* The [[zimlib]] can be used easily in other software to make it easy to use the file format without having to implement it.
 
== Our way to achieve these Goals ==
=== The [[ZIM File Format]] ===
* compresses 900.000 articles (full german Wikipedia beginning 2009) to only 1.3 GB
* features a fulltext search index
* features native category and image handling similar to MediaWiki
* is fully documented on this website - [[ZIM File Format]]
* if you need help implementing it just contact our [[Mailinglist|mailinglist]]
* we are working on a [[ZIM File Archive]] to provide a central place to publish ZIM files including mirroring etc.
 
=== The openZIM implementation ===
* is all free and open source (GPL)
* is based on [[zimlib]], a library written in C++
* provides a [[zimwriter]] to create ZIM files from a HTML dump (eg. a prepared database)
* provides a [[zimreader]] as an example how to read ZIM files; ZIMreader acts as a local webserver
* there are some more tools such as the [[zimdump]] to have a look into ZIM files or check them


== What openZIM is not ==
== What openZIM is not ==
* A publisher or distributor of content saved into the ZIM format. While we will make every effort to help those wanting to this we simply do not have the resources to do it ourselves. We do keep an index of known ZIM adopters at our [[ZIM File Archive|archive]] page.
* A publisher or distributor of content saved into the ZIM format. While we will make every effort to help those wanting to this we simply do not have the resources to do it ourselves. We do keep an index of known ZIM adopters at our [[ZIM File Archive|archive]] page.
* This project was started by the enthusiasm of [[Project Team|volunteers]] and is mainly driven by them and not business interests.  
* This project was started by the enthusiasm of [[Project Team|volunteers]] and is mainly driven by them and not business interests.
* Due to the small size of the core development team we might not be able to offer up a specific implementation of the ZIM format in your chosen programming language. We hope that by publishing the [[ZIM File Format|spec]] and working together more implementations can be written by the adopters of the format.
* Due to the small size of the core development team we are not be able to offer up a specific implementation of the ZIM format in your chosen programming language. We hope that by publishing the [[ZIM file format|specifications]] and working together more implementations can be written by the adopters of the format.
* In order to construct a format that aligns with our mission and spec the adoption of features will have to fit within the [[Mission_of_openZIM#The great Goals|goals]] of the project.

Revision as of 18:19, 11 January 2013

Our mission is to make web content available offline, with a primary focus on Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

We focus on extracting and encoding data from Mediawiki for offline use. We would like to also add support for other wiki engines and content management systems so that this can become a ubiquitous file format for offline usages.

We even believe the file format could be flexible enough to support any kind of web data.

What openZIM is

  • The ZIM file format is the most efficient and works on all platforms, embedded devices and desktop computers.
  • The ZIM file format is used by all kind of publishers, even outside the Wikimedia community.
  • Both ZIM reader applications and ZIM files are freely interchangeable.
  • Everyone can implement software for ZIM files because it is in a open and documented standard.
  • There is at least one free implementation which is open source, the zimlib.
  • The zimlib can be used easily in other software to make it easy to use the file format without having to implement it.

What openZIM is not

  • A publisher or distributor of content saved into the ZIM format. While we will make every effort to help those wanting to this we simply do not have the resources to do it ourselves. We do keep an index of known ZIM adopters at our archive page.
  • This project was started by the enthusiasm of volunteers and is mainly driven by them and not business interests.
  • Due to the small size of the core development team we are not be able to offer up a specific implementation of the ZIM format in your chosen programming language. We hope that by publishing the specifications and working together more implementations can be written by the adopters of the format.
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