Oluf with Hotmail
I created a custom AvantGo channel pointing to the URL you sent. I set the size to 200k, follow 2 links and include images. Worked pretty well. The only thing that was missing was the initial letter image of the PG13/R initial page.
I don't feel like starting plucker or any of the other products.
Olaf, thanks, but according to this page:
http://www.avantgo.com/support/channel_faqs/channel_faq3.html
Avantgo will shut off any "Custom Link" if more than 8 people out of their 4.5 million subscribers sign up for
the same URL. They'll contact me and say, "Hey, you wanna give us $8000 a month for every 1000 subscribers you
have?" I'll say, "No fucking way."
Tom with cox
I have a Handspring Treo 600 with service from Sprint. I did not have to do anything but navigate to the PDA web site directly from my handheld. My only comment is the resolution is a little low but that may be a function of what the device downloads. It downloads pretty quickly.
I will play with it some and see if I can get a better download.
Steve with ed.gov
Hi -- I had no trouble logging in to the PDA sight with my Toshiba Pocket PC, using windoze activesync.
Now I just need to see if I can configure one of my applications to pull the content from a few of the
pages down automatically every day. I use a program called journal bar that might be able to do that.
and thanks for the link to the AvantGo FAQ. talk about over the top charges.
Ross with lmco
For my Sony Clie PEG-SJ22 (color capable of "high resolution")
Downloaded and installed plucker desktop from plkr.com. The setup wizard let me pick my options
(low/high resolution, grayscale/color, etc). The next step in the wizard was picking which user I
wanted to send the info to (add handheld), and where to store the files that were going to be installed
(add output directory). I set up my proxy, and was done with the wizard. I then set up a new channel
by clicking the new channel button, and did the following:
-Entered a name (JAD)
-Entered the website URL (http://www.jokeaday.com/PREMIUMURL/pda/)
-On the limits tab, changed the linked pages to a depth of 8. I probably could have done less than this, but a depth of 2 didn't cut it enough to be able to click through all the links on the pda version of stuff and still get to everything.
-Changed images color depth to 256 colors (was b/w)
-Set the schedule to update daily.
Then I went ahead and set it to grab the URL for today and download, and I hotsync'd to my handheld. The first time it loaded on the plucker reader as well as the JAD file that had all the content. Times after that loaded just the new content file.
I was able to scroll through things and read everything, so it looked good.
The only big problems I saw were in the low-res mode. The italic text you use for "from Ray" sometimes would show up "broken", so that it was a lot more difficult to read than the plain text. Also, the large letter that started the jokes showed up as an [img] tag rather than the picture itself, embedded in the text.
In the hi-res mode, the italics looked great, the babe picture looked even better, the [img] tag was still present at the beginning of the joke, and everything else was very nice.
I can play around with stuff more later, but this was my first take on things, and overall it was really good. I might consider doing this every day over my regular JAD email!
Dave with mindspring
I have a Palm Tungsten T3 and I can view the page just fine using the web browser that came bundled with it (Web Pro.)
The biggest problem I see is accessability - I have to have an internet connection established in order to view the pages, and I have to navigate to said pages. AvantGo's main advantages are ease of downloading and portability. Since the AvantGo pages are automatically downloaded to my PDA every day during HotSync, there are no extra steps involved, and once downloaded, I can view them any time later regardless of whether or not I'm connected to the internet.
I'm sorry to see you leave AvantGo, but I understand your position. And while I appreciate the effort to produce a PDA-friendly web site, I personally can't see the usefulness if I'm forced to be tied to an internet connection.
Did you check out the other products listed on the PDA page?
Those products will allow you to "hot sync" the stuff, download
it to your PDA, and then you DON'T have to be connected to
the Internet through the PDA to view them.
Get Plucker from http://www.plkr.org/ It's free and will do exactly
as I said above.
Jeffrey with earthlink
It looks great on Pocket IE for my iPAQ 5555. There is nothing that you need to fix. Thanks for the value-added service!
Jim with mindspring
I have a Treo 600, and used Blazer to access the pages.
All pages loaded and worked just fine without any issues.
One drawback I experienced, however, was that the "babe" picture did not resize, so I had a "close up" of the various parts. So I would like a smaller version to display (or a way to resize).
Odd about the photo size. I added HEIGHT / WIDTH tags to
the HTML, perhaps that will help some.
After three times pointing out the information that "Custom Channels" will NOT work in Avantgo for this purpose
to Mark, I got this:
Mark with locl
Another possibility - you tell me if it's feasible.
Every paid subscriber has his own web page which is an exact mirror of the real one. That way each subscribes to his own and we kinda get around Avantgo.
What are you smoking?
Tom with widem
I have a Palm Tungsten T3, but it doesn't connect to the internet really --
I just sync Avantgo along with everything else. So... Looks like I'm
hosed. Having said that, I don't blame you; I think dealing with Avantgo
would be a pain in the arse.
FWIW, I did try it on my Sprint PCS phone (Samsung VGA1000, not really a PDA
but a WAP-enabled phone with browser capability). Text loaded fine, but
graphics didn't. Don't know why, and don't know enough to venture a guess;
just another datapoint for ya.
Without Avantgo, to make it work, you'd have to grab one of the
other Palm programs to sync with sites on the Net. Get Plucker,
man, and you'll be able to stay right in touch without any muss.
(And it's free.)
You're right about the phone thing. No portion of the site is
WAP-enabled. Frankly, I'm surprised my klunky HTML
survived long enough to make the text show up on your phone.
Lucy with cox
My PDA is a Dell Axim X5 with a 400 MHz Intel XScale Processor.
All I had to do to get to your web site was pop my hand held into my synch
cradle, open up Internet Explorer and browse to the page.
I was impressed. I originally had used AvantGo to access your site. It
loaded slow and was hard to read. This web page is lean, mean and very easy
to browse.
Patrick with gwi
I have a Palm Tungsten C. I was able view the pages just fine. I simply connected to my wireless router and followed the link.
Robert in Hawaii
I was sorry to hear about the situation with AvantGo...however, after giving
the new pages you are serving up in PDA size, I have to say it's better than
the JAD channels on AvantGo. I use a Toshiba E740 PocketPC with Pocket IE,
and have set up the system to download the pages as an offline web page
(done by creating a "Mobile Favorite")...it comes out to about 1.9 MB on the
handheld, but different options could change the size somewhat (I have the
room, most of my stuff on the handheld is on the storage card).
Here's the technical description, if it would help anyone:
Assumes your browser is IE and your PocketPC is in the cradle...also, this
description is for MS ActiveSync, and the favorites have to be set to sync
with the handheld.
1. Browse to the Joke A Day PDA site on your desktop computer (as stated on
http://www.jokeaday.com/pda.shtml it's http://www.jokeaday.com/THIS MONTH'S
PREMIUM URL/pda/).
2. Choose either the PG/R or G rated option.
3. Once at the above choice, click Tools>Create Mobile Favorite. It's much
like a regular favorite, but you can schedule a sync time (more on this
later...you can pick a time here, but there are only 3 options and "Do Not
Schedule")
4. Now, you have to set up your PC to synchronize the Mobile Favorite
(which the desktop sees as an Offline Web Page). Syncronizing the desktop
will ensure the offline versions of these pages (stored on your computer)
are up to date with the website. To sync manually just go to Start>All
Programs>Accessories>Synchronize (Windows XP Home...for 9x it's
Start>Programs>Accessories>Synchronize, not sure about NT/2K but probably
similar). It's pretty self-explanatory at this point.
5. To automate this, go to your C:\WINDOWS\Offline Web Pages folder, right
click the Joke A Day.url and select Properties. On the Schedule tab you can
pick one of the set options or add your own (since I sync my PDA at 0630
before I go to work, I set the offline pages to sync at 0400 every
morning...then when I manually sync my PDA before I go to work the new pages
are ready).
6. On the Download tab you can set options on link depth (up to 3) and
size, and other items. I found that maxing out all of them put it at just
shy of 2 MB (your mileage may vary, and the G rated has less stuff...thus
smaller sync).
I'll tool up a webpage with screenshots of this later on, if I have some
time, and send the URL. But this seems to work good thus far (not as
automated as AvangGo, but once set up it is pretty easy...AOLiens will be
baffled, most likely, but the hell with 'em :)
Also, in my opinion there is more JAD content and it just looks better than
when done through AvantGo. Does make the PDA sync take a bit longer, but
it's overall more content and better quality. So moving off AvantGo is a
much better avenue in the long run, in my opinion.
Best regards, Chief!
Robert further sends this URL full of graphic examples of how to sync
Joke A Day's Premium PDA Website using MS's ActiveSync:
Click here
He writes:
Oh, anyone using AvantGo for the MSNBC News channel may find the below
information handy for the weird characters that appear on Pocket IE with
MSNBC:
Change the codepage to UTF-8 in Options/Advanced in Pocket IE. This is per
IE session. To change the default codepage, do the following on your
PocketPC (using 65001 as the decimal code for the UTF-8 page):
Browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\International\
Set the "Default_CodePage" value to the codepage you want to use (1252 'Western Alphabet' is the default codepage).
A complete list of codepages is available at HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\MIME\Database\Codepage\, look at the "Description" value
for each codepage subkey.
WARNING: Messing with the registry on any PC (desktop or Pocket) is risky,
and can render it a brick requiring OS reload/hard reset. Do at own risk.
Mike with comcast
For anyone using Activesync, you can just create a "Mobile Favorite" that's available offline, then whenever you sync, you'll get the latest Joke-a-day. Just like Avantgo, but without actually using their service.
1. Create a Favorite for the Joke-a-day website, but put in a folder name "Mobile Favorites" (under your Favorites folder).
2. Go into your Activesync options and check "Favorites" as a service to synchronize. The Settings for this service will show the web pages, and you can choose which ones to sync (make sure your new "Joke-a-day" favorite is checked.
3. Sync your PocketPC.
4. Disconnect your PDA, open Pocket Internet Explorer, open the Favorites, and Voila! Joke-a-day is now available offline!
Richard with Yahoo
Here's the PDA info I have for you. I have a Palm IIIc (Low res). I
downloaded and installed the Plucker Desktop (not the viewer) and as
part of the setup it adds the Plucker application to be loaded onto the
PDA and adds a conduit to the Hotsync process. I used all of the
defaults. After syncing the PDA the first time, Plucker is now
installed on the PDA. I then used the "Add a new channel wizard" to set
up the Joke A Day channel. If you want, I can send you screenshots.
Just let me know. After updating the channels on the Plucker desktop, I
hotsynced the PDA and Joke A Day was showed up on the PDA.
On the PDA, a few observations:
1) Italics do not show up well. They appear
"broken". The words kind of lean to the right (as italics should) but then the
top half of the letter is "shifted" to the right so the letter is not even.
2) The first letter of the mature joke (The "T" in
Traveling) is supposed to be an image (I guess) but instead of the
letter, it just shows up as "[img]raveling".
3) The "Fred on Everything", "The Straight Dope",
"The Letters Page" and "Joke A Day's Dweeb Letter" links all look
something like this:
Fred on Everything (Updated on
Mondays)
The Straight Dope (Updated on
Tuesdays)
The Letters Page (Updated
Monthly)
Joke A Day's Dweeb Letter (Updated
Whenever)
4) Some of the links (on the main page) have solid underlines and some
have dotted underlines. The ones with solid underlines are "Today's
"G/PG" Joke", "The Straight Dope", "The Letters Page" and "Joke A Day's
Dweeb Letter". The rest of the links have dotted underlines.
That's all at first glance.
Please let me know if you would like to know more.
Oh, and putting your Blog on there might be nice.
Justin with Jwhit
Using Plucker, it works fine apart from one small problem and one observation
Details:
PDA: Sony Clie PEG-T625C (Palm OS 4 device)
PC: Windows XP Professional with all latest patches
---Problem---
When installing the Plucker Desktop Software, it gave me the option to install the Plucker PDA software to various locations within the PDA (PDA main memory, SD-Ram, Memory Stick, etc...) I chose to install the software on the Memory Stick to save PDA memory. This caused a problem as one of the components installed (the zLib library) has to be in the PDA's main memory otherwise you cannot view zLib compressed documents (the default format). (I moved the zlib component from Memory Stick to PDA RAM and all was fine.)
---Observation---
I while back I emailed you that there was a problem with your letters page for users of the then current version of the web browser Opera, in that italics would only be applied for the first paragraph of each of your replies.
Whilst for newer versions of Opera this now works fine, using Plucker on the PDA has the same issue, on both the Letters and Dweeb Letters page, only the first paragraph of any block of text in italics is correctly shown in italics, the rest of that block is shown as normal text.
Hope this is of some help Ray,
Steven with above
I have a Palm Visor Prism and I just use the supplied "Blazer" browser. Works fine.
Garth with almgren
I was just reading through your PDA version of the letters (http://www.jokeaday.com/pinetree/pda/palmletters.shtml), and I noticed the humor feed link in the very first letter is pointing to a page in the PDA directory that doesn't exist (http://www.jokeaday.com/pinetree/pda/7feed.shtml).
I'm guessing this is a side effect of whatever software you use to move the letters page to the PDA site and strip it's formatting?
Yep. All of the pages use Server Side Includes for text that's formatted for the "regular" site. So any links, etc., etc., will almost certainly not work,
especially if they're relative path links such as the one to the Joke Feed page. Sorry about that.
Eric with comcast
I'm using a Palm Tungsten T2 with iSilo. I set up a job that downloads the "R-rated" page and sends it right into my palm. I'll find out at noon on Monday whether the scheduler works and it can be run without human intervention.
Hopefully, the only thing I'll have to do with this is update the URL every month.
I did run into one problem: "Fred on Everything" uses the fancy quote and apostrophe marks, and iSilo can't translate those. It replaces " and ' in Fred on Everything with ?.
For "proper" HTML, the left-quote should be replaced with "“", the right with "”", and the apostrophe with "’". I've tested this with iSilo, and these come through properly.
It's a bit nitpicky, but you did ask what could be done to make things better....
GS with bellsouth
** For your model of PDA, what did you have to do to make it work?
Tungsten T3, Windows XP on my PC. Use iSiloXC in a .bat file scheduled to run each morning before I get up. It downloads about a 1.5 mb of stuff (mostly JAD). There is no real limit to how much you can download. It has the capability to load on an expansion card if you need to. I then hotsync in less than a minute and off to the salt mines I go.
works great. Before you fired Avantgo, I had been grabbing the Avantgo JAD pages you had set up with iSilo. The pictures looked a lot better in iSilo format than the Avantgo format. I think Avantgo resized them or something. With the expanding screen on T3, the pictures look MUCH better. I fired Avantgo when sites started becoming unavailable last year.
** For your model of PDA, what glitches are there that I can
fix?
none, except having yesterday's Babe on the PDA site would be nice. Right now I also grab the premium URL site which is a lot of extra thumbs and all.
** Anything else that will be helpful to other PDA owners would be nice.
readability of most web pages is enhanced if "ignore all table formatting" is checked.
Thanks for the feedback.
I thought about putting yesterday's Babe / Hunk on there, but
I was really trying to limit the amount that was having to be
loaded onto the PDA. (I was thinking of those poor shlubs
with 10MB PDAs and that kind of stuff.)
Chris with nerys
WOW that is INSANE to have to pay that much money !!!! OUCH !!! I can
understand you dumping Avantgo.
but from a user perspective nothing BUT avantgo will do :-( its free for me
and its an "all in one location" kind of thing. thats important. I don't
want 3 or 4 web clipping apps. that removes the convenience and I would
simply stop using it.
I have no problem paying $5 a year but only if I can get it IN avantgo and I
might have a solution.
First do you have a "page" with the joke a day and the small logo you use on
avantgo ? this would make syncing easier and better formatted.
Second does avantgo tally the SOURCE page or "all the links"
I could create a page on my site and have a single LINK to your page. I
would then tell it to go link depth in therby getting your page.
that's why its important to know if it makes that 8 hit limit on the
"synced" page or ALL PAGE synced inside of a synced page ?
Just trying to figure out a way to get around this issue. again I don't mine
paying $5 a year but installing yet another app on my already quite full
(not in space have LOTS of that fun just the pure number of ICONS I have to
go through on my Zodiac) PDA would be a nono for me sadly.
Suggestions ?
Also are their any web clipping apps that can go out GRAB a page and then
REUPLOAD that page as I see fit ? I could have it grab your page and then
resend it to my own site as my own page and then "sync" to that. this would
completely bypass any avantgo issue all together.
Chris, I see your point, from a convenience factor, but I'm through
with Avantgo.
From what I can tell, though "additional syncing" with other
software applications just doesn't take that long. Once it's set
up, it's an automatic thing. I doubt seriously you'd even notice
the extra time.
I've absolutely no clue as to your questions. Only Avantgo can
answer most of them.
The solutions I've laid out are, frankly, the easiest for me to
maintain. Actually, now that I have them set up, there's no
maintenance at all except when I need to replenish Babe and
Hunk pictures. The "real" site feeds the information to the
PDA version of the site automatically. The software I've suggested
for people to use works very well from the feedback I'm getting.
I guess what I'm saying is I'm not going to do anything *else*
additionally for the PDA version of Joke A Day unless someone
tells me their make / model of computer is a major one AND
can't use the methods I've already laid out. I wish I had some
other suggestions for you, but I don't.
I'd appreciate your business, of course, but understand completely
if you'd rather not do it "my way." :)
Dreal with AOL
I have a Dell Axim with Microsoft Activesync. In order to get the sites to work all I had to do was open the link in Microsoft Internet Explorer and click on the mobile link icon on the top of the webpage. It then asked when you want the site to update. Then when the Axim is conected and the computer is conected to the internet the page saves to your internet favorites on your palm, which can be accessed by clicking on the star on the bottom of the internet explorer window.
Scott with pbsg
I really enjoy your Joke A Day service and recently subscribed to the PDA version of your page. So far I like what I see.
I have one issue that prevents me from taking the site offline on my PDA. I can save the site on my PDA as an offline web page and then synchronize it with the utility provided from Windows XP. This is a great way to manage offline content to take a read later. However if there is an error during the sync process the offline pages are then unavailable. Even though I have set the synchronization process to stay on the server there is a link on one of the pages that prevents the offline synchronization from succeeding. I am behind a firewall and the link that is causing issues in on a non-standard http port so it never connects. The link is:
www.live365.com:89/pls/front?handler=playlistcmd=viewhandle=jokeaday
Because of the port 89 any user behind a firewall will have some issues with trying to complete synchronization. Is there anything that you can do?
I appreciate your time.
Thank You,
That link is not on the PDA version of the side at all, homeboy.
What you're trying to sync the MAIN site of Joke A Day. Don't
do that. It will drive you -- and your software -- nuts.
Sync to http://www.jokeaday.com/PREMIUM URL/pda/
You then shouldn't have any problems at all.
I found the problem!
I have set the Joke A Day offline settings to go 3 levels deep. Well on the
Joke A Day letters page there is a link to the Humor Feed page. That page (being
the 3rd level from where I start) does have the link that is timing out. So
it appears that if someone links back to the main page in a letter or on
another page it can cause synchronization errors to occur.
I don't have a problem with it since it still works, it just takes longer.
I'm a systems engineer so little things bug me if I don't know why and now I
know.
Thanks again for your help.
That might just be it, Scott. Thanks for your persistence!
There's no need to go three levels deep. One level should be more
than satisfactory, I believe.
Thanks again!
Mark with innocent
I checked out the PDA site. I have a Sharp Zaurus SL5500. It is
running Linux 2.4 and uses the Opera browser. There was no special
configuration or additonal software required. Everything on the site
worked fine, although some of the text was a bit small (which is to be
expected). The graphics displayed properly and moving around the site
was easy.
