WikiNodes is an app for the
AppleiPad built by
IDEA.org.[1] WikiNodes was the first tablet app for browsing
Wikipedia using a
radial tree approach to visualize how articles and subsections of articles are interrelated. The app displays related items (articles or sections of an article), which spread on the screen, as a spiderweb of icons.[2]
Page view – displays Wikipedia articles in long form, similar to how they appear on the main Wikipedia web site.[5]
Node view – divides Wikipedia articles into sections, and links articles to related articles, similar to
mind mapping.[6] The user can drag nodes, taps any node to display it in detail, with a panel to scroll to read the contents of the section.[7] This provides a visual way to see the relationships between articles.[8][9]
The app was highlighted as a "Staff pick" by Apple's U.S.
App Store, Week of May 28, 2011; as "New and Noteworthy" by Apple's U.S. App Store, Week of May 5, 2011; and at other times by Apple's app stores for non-US countries.[10] It has been favorably covered by several bloggers, including those in the references below.[11]
^Mossberg, Walt.
"Encyclopaedia Britannica Now Fits Into an App", 28 September 2011. The Wall Street Journal. (subscription required) The article mentions WikiNodes, while discussing the Britannica app, noting that "This kind of visual array of related items isn’t a new idea. In fact, there is an iPad app called WikiNodes which does something similar for Wikipedia content."
^WikiNodes: app that presents a keyword to a word association game. Ideal for expedition Wikipedia! (Japanese)
AppBank
^"The interface presentation of information [is] similar to that of mind mapping, which I love." – Jess Seilheimer,
DigiliciousArchived 2014-07-27 at the
Wayback Machine
^"The interface is a freestyle drag and zoom bonanza that lets you jump between related articles easily." –
iPad AppsArchived 2011-07-08 at the
Wayback Machine
^"[WikiNodes]...could redefine the way that you use Wikipedia on the iOS." – Blake Grundman,
148Apps
^"WikiNodes takes the huge sprawling maze of information that is Wikipedia and organizes it into a spider web of knowledge." – Phil Hornshaw,
Yahoo! News & Appolicious