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OmniOutliner Pro for iPad Browser Bookmarking Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Browser bookmarks useful on a iPad can be significantly different than those on a Mac. Some Mac links are irrelevant to iPad uses, apps may be better implemented than their standard browser sources, and some standard web pages may be unusable on an iPad.

It is straightforward to organize URLs with OmniOutliner Pro and EXPORT them in a dynamic HTML format that will become the bookmark file.

For this purpose an iPad browser is needed that supports:
* tabs,
* a home page,
* saved html files, and
* the ability to open in a background tab.

I use the "Perfect Web Browser" but "Atomic Browser" and 'iCab Mobile" should also work.

When building the source outline, be sure to make the font size large enough and with enough space before and after each topic to accommodate the touch interface of the iPad without needing to zoom. A high level topic with sub-topics listing your most popular favorites saved in the expanded state when exported will also reduce the need for additional taps. Depending on the browser, the page may be able to correctly display any of the typefaces included on the iPad. For example, you may prefer Verdana over Helvetica for this purpose.

That exported dynamic HTML file needs to go where it can be accessed with the iPad browser. The approach I took was to enable Web Sharing on my Mac, save the file in my Library/WebServer/Documents folder and then access the file on my LAN. I saved the web page in my browser app and then set that as my home page. I could then turn off Web Sharing and use any wi-fi connection through the file saved on my iPad. (Note that Dropbox will import plain HTML files, but seemingly not the package of files needed for dynamic HTML.)

One optional, but highly desirable, tweak to the "index.html" text file created in the export is to edit all the URLs to direct the links to open in a new tab rather than to replace the current page of bookmarks. This will keep the bookmark page conveniently open for subsequent linking. Here is the code.
Change this:
<a href="http://www.someurl.com/"> Link Description </a>
to this:
<a href="http://www.someurl.com/" target="_blank"> Link Description </a>.

If each URL ends in a forward slash, this conversion can be conveniently completed with a text editor using global search and replace. Just change all occurrences of /"> to /" target="_blank">. For those rare links that can not end in a forward slash, just add some unique text to the URL Link Description in OmniOutliner to subsequently find and manually edit the URL in the "index" file or use the unique text as a flag to indicate that one must choose "Open in a Background Tab" as an option rather than just tapping on the link.

While looking forward to the iPad version of OmniOutliner, the current Mac version still offers benefits to iPad users.

--Ross
 
 


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