iPad reading list problems

I have noticed that not all web pages can be saved to my iPad reading list so I have to utilise programs such as Pocket or Instapaper. I've been using Pocket with mixed results. However I have been told that the Mac reading list is as unreliable as the iOS one. Can anyone confirm this please?

As someone who makes great use of the Reading List feature in Safari, I really have no idea what you're talking about. I've been using this feature for years as I frequently travel and have no internet access for hours at a time, and rely on the Reading List for reading articles offline all the time. Never had any sort of problem with it on either platform.

I have used Readability and Pocket but stopped using them because I couldn't see what they did that Reading List didn't do better.

Reading list works flawlessly for me!

I'm a little confused here too? Can you give us an example or two of pages that can't be saved to Reading List? Might these pages have Flash embedded in them? In other words you were able to look at them on the computer, add them to reading list but they don't appear on the iPad?

Here are a couple off examples that can't be saved to reading list to be read OFFLINE.


"Read It Later": Republishing is Theft - The Awl
Quick Tip: How to Use Safari

Thanks guys.

This is just to check if this Is the way to continue the discussion. I tried before and it didn't! work.

Yes. The previous post just showed for me along with this one. It might have gotten sent to the Moderated threads section for a bit.

When I am a little more awake I'll take a look at the links and see if I can figure this out.

Edit: Think I will move this to the iPad thread. That seems to be more appropriate given the topic.

OK. In business. I must have used the wrong box before. Anyway, I'm sorry guys. I neglected to say that the iOS reading list does not save all web pages for OFFLINE reading. I have to switch off the Wifi every time to see if this message comes up or not on the list:

"Not available for offline reading"

If it does I naturally have to use Pocket which as you may know usually doesn't include graphics.and doesn't always work. I haven't tried Instapaper but would welcome any feedback about it.
But my question is, is the reading list on Mavericks limited to online use? I haven't had the opportunity to try it.
Thanks guys.

supbng said:

But my question is, is the reading list on Mavericks limited to online use? I haven't had the opportunity to try it.
Thanks guys.

Click to expand...

Have to admit I had not thought to try that under Mavericks. I'm usually at home and connected when I use reading list in Mavericks.

I disconnected from the internet and tried to read some pages in my reading list. The pages themselves loaded fine even much of the graphics. I did find that some elements do not load though. For instance, when I went to one of the YouTube pages in my list the page itself loaded fine. The video did not load though.

I should have given some example web pages as follows:
https://ia600300.us.archive.org/17/items/constitutionalvi00lcstep/constitutionalvi00lcstep.pdf
Quick Tip: How to Use Safari

Thanks Slydude.
I wouldn't expect a video to work as I've tried that many times in the past before it sank in that I needed a video downloader for that but I only know about WIndows and ipad as far as that is concerned before anybody asks and now boy do I have that area covered !
But to be on the safe side when you get a chance could you please try the pages I sent you cos I know they can't be read offline on my ipad. Only some pages don't work. On the ipad the it's stated in the list if a page is "not available for offline reading" otherwise it will work ok.
Regards.

Sorry for the late reply. I had intermitter Internet problems last night and couldn't test this. Here's what I was able to find out with the links above:

1. The pdf loads fine for me as long as I have an internet connection. It will not load from the reading list if I do not have an active connection. I'm not sure yet what the issue is there.
2. The QuickTips page loads without an active connection. Links to other parts of that page (such as comments) work but links to other pages do not.

It would seem that the actual issue here is a fundamental misunderstanding of what "offline reading" means. Reading List (and all the others) load the *available local page elements* (this usually means the text and most graphics) but does not save a copy of videos or other elements that are called dynamically (say, live charts for example) from other sources, as this would either be impractical or eat up way too much space. This is normal and exactly how the function is supposed to work.

In the case of the PDF I can only imagine that there is some dynamic element in the document (an online authorization perhaps) that prevents offline reading. Some webmasters do that.

Ipad reading list problems

Reply to Chas_M
Actually I don't expect the reading list to do any more than you describe but some pages do not save to the ipad to be read offline. In communication with Slydog this doesn't occur with Mavericks well anyway the Mac OS he is using or with Windows 7 either in my experience but very rarely. So it appears to be a peculiarity of iOS. If you have an ipad try this one and you'll see what I mean.

Quick Tip: How to Use Safari

It will save to the list but turn off the wifi and you will get "Not available for offline reading". This doesn't happen on a Mac or Windows computer (although on the latter you "Save page as" which is exactly the same thing). Slydog also please note that I offered the Pdf as an example by mistake. It won't save to the reading list maybe because it's a pdf I dunno but I saved it to iBooks anyway so no problem.

Today, 09:34 AM
I took it into the Apple Store and they reset it. At least I think that's what she did. No need to restore. Hope I got that said right . Anyway it works now. Thanx.