14 DAY TRIAL // Wikipedia is now making it possible to create ebooks on your favorite topics or anything that interests you and have all the pages put together in one file, in the EPUB format.
You can then copy the material and use it on the many devices that can read EPUB ebooks, which is pretty much everything except Kindles.
There is also the option to export the book you put together as a PDF, which is even more widely supported but is less suitable for e-ink ebook readers.
The ability to create a "book" based on any Wikipedia page you want has been around for a while, all that's new is the ability to export the book in the standard and open EPUB format.
That said, this new export tool does work a little different from the PDF export, for example, as pages are formatted differently, images are resized, and links are included, even for content that is not in the book.
Other export options are the Open Document format, for word processors, and a printed book option, courtesy of PediaPress. PediaPress is also responsible for the EPUB exporter.
That's probably the most interesting option as you can put together a comprehensive list of material that is related and useful and have it printed out in a real book.
"We’re happy to announce that a new EPUB export feature has been enabled on English Wikipedia. You can use it to collate your personal collection of Wikipedia articles and generate free ebooks," the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs Wikipedia, announced.
"These can be read on a broad range of devices, like mobile phones, tablets and e-ink based e-book readers," it explained.
"Using an e-book to read Wikipedia articles has a number of advantages. Although mobile online access is becoming more prevalent, it is still not available everywhere. Think about situations when you are commuting or in the outdoors. Now imagine you live in a country where logging onto the Internet is a luxury and accessing Wikipedia is a challenge," it added.