Some messages are more fun to receive than others. This one arrived before the purchase: a German-speaking reader wanted to know whether Pagira could finally open, on his iPad, the library he had only been able to read on his computer. A few weeks later, he was reading it every day. Here is his story.
The question: browse like on a Mac
His library sits in a single folder: just over 200,000 HTML files, almost pure text, arranged by author, with a folder for each work. On a Mac it's simple: double-click a page, then go from book to book by following the links. His question fit in one line: can this be done on an iPad?
The answer was yes, with one honest caveat: we had never tried Pagira on that many files. The wise move was to start with the free trial, where opening a folder doesn't count and following links from page to page is free.
The verdict
A few days later, the reply came:
"I tried the app and everything works wonderfully. The navigation works flawlessly. There were no problems at all in that respect, and I'm 100% happy with it."
And, at the end of the message, the sentence every developer loves to read: "I bought the app."
"Your app is the only one that can do it"
What won him over is the way Pagira handles a folder. He puts it better than we could:
"On a PC it doesn't matter whether you have 10 or 1,000,000 HTML files, the browser doesn't care. Your app is the only one that can do it. All the others I tried insist on importing and processing everything up front, and that's where they fail."
That is exactly how Pagira works. It copies nothing and prepares nothing in advance: it opens the folder where it is stored, browses the author folders the way you arranged them, and shows the page you tap. The folder is served locally like a real website, so every link from page to page, from one work to another, works as in a desktop browser. Ten pages or two hundred thousand, it makes no difference.
A library built to last
The library is the complete edition of Projekt Gutenberg-DE, bought from a German publisher: thousands of works of German-language literature, 14.76 GB in all. HTML was chosen for a simple reason, which he puts this way: HTML will certainly still exist in twenty years. What remained was reading it somewhere other than a computer:
"I tried about six other apps, and none worked as well as yours."
An idea, and the next update
Along the way, he dropped a suggestion: a dark mode button for HTML pages, which keep their own colours. A good idea, and quickly done: version 3.1 added an Aa menu to every HTML page, with Original, Sepia, Dark or Automatic colours, text size and brightness. The page's layout is respected, and pinching still zooms as before. His reaction when he heard:
"Oh wow, you read my mind. Dark mode and the text size setting are very welcome."
His library also helped improve search: since 3.1 it is faster in very large folders and available as soon as the folder opens.
What we take from it
- HTML is a real library format. Not only for technical documentation and courses: also for books you want to keep for twenty years. It led to our guide to reading HTML novels on iPad and iPhone.
- Reading in place changes everything. Importing nothing is what makes a library this size openable, where other apps give up.
- The best ideas come from readers. A suggestion made in passing became a feature of the next update.
Do you have a collection other apps can't open? Write to us. And to try it: Pagira on the App Store, 20 free document openings, opening a folder doesn't count, then a one-time purchase of $11.99.
Frequently asked questions
Can Pagira open a folder of 200,000 HTML files?
Yes. Pagira reads the folder where it is stored, with nothing to import: a library of over 200,000 HTML pages opens and can be browsed on an iPad.
Do links between HTML files work on iPad with Pagira?
Yes. Pagira serves the folder locally like a real website: every link from page to page works as in a desktop browser.
Do I need to import my library into Pagira?
No. Pagira opens your folders where they are, in Files or iCloud Drive. Nothing is copied.
