Home page Documentation  

Home » Documentation » iPedia manual

Table of contents

  1. Requirements
  2. Installation
  3. Using iPedia
  4. Usage scenarios
  5. Registering iPedia
  6. Checking for updates
  7. Treo optimizations
  8. Support

Requirements

iPedia requires a Palm PDA with direct, wireless connection to the Internet. Those models include (but are not limited to): Treo 600, Treo 650, Tungsten C, Tungsten W, Clie PEG-TH55, Clie PEG-UX50, Kyocera QCP-7135, Samsung SPH-i500, Treo 300, Treo 270.

iPedia is optimized for Treo smartphones.

Installation

Download iPedia and install iPedia.prc on the device.

Using iPedia

iPedia provides encyclopedias in 3 languages: English, German and French. Since the number of articles in each encyclopedia is growing every week, on startup iPedia displays About screen which displays which encyclopedia is currently being used as well as current number of articles in that encyclopedia and the date when encyclopedia data was last updated.

The database is constantly updated so watch the number of articles grow!

To change the language, use 'Main/Change language' menu item and select a language from the list, or press 'Cancel' button.
To read an encyclopedia article about a given subject, type it in the text box and press "Search" (or center button on Treo's 5-Way Navigator or use 'Main/Search' menu item).

For example, to read article on Seattle, type 'seattle' in the text box.

iPedia will download article and display it. If a definition doesn't fit on one screen it can be scrolled using hardware up/down buttons, scrollbar or 5-Way Navigator's up/down buttons (available e.g. on Treo or Tungsten).
Encyclopedia articles often link to other articles. Press on a hyperlink to read linked article.
iPedia has two kinds of links:
  • blue links to other encyclopedia articles. Those are shown within iPedia.
  • red links to external websites. Those are shown in an external web browser.
'Search' takes you directly to an article on a given subject. To find all articles that mention a given word, use 'Main/Extended search' menu item. In response you'll get a list of articles containing a given word.

In the example: list of all articles containing word 'Seattle'

To read an article, simply select it from the list.
At any time you can get a list of results for the last extended search.
You can also refine a search to narrow down the list of results. Let's assume that your search for 'Seattle' returned too many articles. You can add additional search word e.g. "keyarena" and press "Refine" button.

In response you'll get a (smaller) list of articles that contain both 'Seattle' and 'KeyArena' words.

Use menu item 'Go/Linked articles' to see a list of articles that are linked from current article. This is an alternative way of navigating to linked articles.
Use menu item 'Go/Linking articles' to see a list of articles that link to this article. This is a great way to explore the encyclopedia.
Other menu options:
  • Random article - show a random encyclopedia article
  • Copy to clipboard - copy the text of the article to a clipboard. You can use it in other Palm programs that support clipboard (e.g. MemoPad). Sometimes article might not get copied if it exceeds the size of the clipboard
  • Forward and Back - iPedia remembers which articles you've read, similar to how web browser remebers visited web pages. You can navigate the articles history with forward/back menu items or by using arrows at the bottom left of the screen.
  • History - displays a history of recent lookups in a list and allows selecting an article to display from the list.

 

Usage scenarios

For a few ideas on what kind of information you can get with iPedia, read about iPedia usage scenarios.

Registering iPedia

Unregistered version of iPedia limits the number of articles that can be viewed. In order to remove that limit, you need to purchase registration code. After purchasing iPedia, registration code is e-mailed to you. We strongly recommend saving it in a safe place for future reference.

Use menu item 'Options/Register' to enter registration code. Press 'Later' to postpone registration process. Press 'Register' to verify registration code.

Registration code consists of numbers only.

If the registration code is invalid, iPedia will show a dialog box informing about that. Press 'OK' to postpone registration process or 'Re-enter registration code' to correct the registration code.

If the registration code is valid, iPedia shows a dialog box notifying about that.

If you re-install iPedia you'll have to re-enter registration code, so please keep it for future reference.

Checking for updates

You can check if there's an updated version of iPedia directly from the program. Select menu 'Options/Check for updates'. If a web browser is installed on the device you'll be taken to a page showing if there's in update for iPedia.

You can also use 'Options/ArsLexis website' to visit a special version of ArsLexis website optimized for viewing on Palm web browser. You'll find there description of our software for Palm and links to direct downloads.

Treo optimizations

On Treo iPedia supports 5-way navigator to make some common tasks easier:
  • navigate the links in the article using left/right 5-Way buttons. Press center button to select the article
  • use up and down buttons to scroll the article

Support

We strive to provide great support for our software.

To obtain support please visit support page on our website.

To provide feedback to our development team, suggest improvements, discuss ideas and exchange tips and tricks with other users, participate in our Yahoo! based discussion group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arslexis.

Copyright © ArsLexis