Okay so let me get this straight, as I am so new. :) If I create a custom HTML page, will my users have to have an internet connection in order to view these pages in the app? Or will it have saved these pages offline for them to read any time? If it is saving offline for later reading, when do updates get pushed through to them? How do the apps get refreshed to be sure they have the latest info? What is the benefit of having a Doc which lives natively on the device vs. a Doc which is hosted at an outside source vs. an HTML page displaying essentially the same information? Thanks!

Hi @HeyShay, Welcome to buzztouch! Sunny Seattle...LOVE that place! I was born in Bremerton, and have lived across the lake in Kirkland a couple of times for several years at a time. My daughter was born at Evergreen! Custom HTML pages do indeed require a network connection. However, when a user views them, they are cached. But they won't be cached until after the view sees them for the first time (you can't pre-cache them or anything). Having a doc living natively on the device means that it'll load faster, and doesn't require a network connection. That's great if the content doesn't change, or you don't mind pushing out updated content via an app update through the store. But, if content does change, you'll want to either use a Custom URL or Custom HTML screen. My suggestion for content you want to change is to use the HTML Doc screen, put link it to a doc that's living somewhere like DropBox or a web site. Then you can edit it at your discretion. Lots of people do this. Otherwise, if the doc won't change, just include it with the app! Mark

Looking at the JSON data (which can be confusing to a beginner, admittedly), shows how this works. The custom HTML doc acts just like the Custom URL plugin. The only difference is that the custom HTML you created on the BT control panel gets saved on BT server, and is linked to in the app. So, you're basically creating a HTML file, hosting on buzztouch.com, and then linking to it in the app. Mark is right in that it gets cached once it is loaded, and that if you don't plan on making updates to the file, it's better to host it via an in-app file.

Thanks for the replies, guys (and the welcome!) Well, my app is for dance students that is intended to be primarily a reference tool, with some YouTube links for examples of various techniques, and and RSS feed of my dance blog. It will be clear they need a wifi connection in order to view the YouTube videos, I was hoping to get an RSS feed plugin of some sort which would pull down for offline viewing (apparently there isn't one for 2.0 yet, am I correct?) but I want at least the technique descriptions, photos, and glossary to be available to them anywhere, anytime. Just so I understand...about docs in Android. What I think I understand from the details on the screen I was testing, in Android, if the docs are native they handle them just fine. But if the docs are pulled down (like HTML or a webpage) from an external hosted site, it treats it like a download and opens outside the app. Is that correct? Or are ALL docs opened outside the app in Android? Thanks for the replies and encouragement, guys!

Hey @HeyShay, You're on the right path! There is no plugin that will download and cache RSS feeds for offline viewing. Not sure if anybody is working on that or not. iOS handles docs WAY better than Android does. For iOS, you can view docs like HTML, PDF, .doc, .ppt. and .xls in the app itself, without using any outside applications. This goes for both docs included in the app, and downloaded from a URL. Such is not the case with Android. All docs that are not HTML docs require an external viewing program to be installed on the device. So, PDF and Word docs will require an additional app for your users. This applies to docs shipped with the app or downloaded via a URL. If you can do stuff in HTML, that's the best way to go. You can use CSS and JavaScript/jQuery to make things interactive if you want. Lots of ways to spice up HTML. You can also include images just like a normal web page. Hope this helps a bit! Mark

GoNorthWest, dude you just spoke my language! I am a graphics and web designer. I can make HTML happen. I am pleased to her there is NATIVE HTML options, which I can definitely do! Thanks for clarifying. This is all very exciting. Can you see the happy glow of a new Buzztouch developer around my head?

Sweet! That's one of the amazing things about buzztouch, is that many people can leverage skills they already have to do some seriously cool stuff! Make sure you check out the How-To section of buzztouch...some great documents and tutorials have been written there to help get you going on a huge number of topics. And, of course, don't hesitate to post whenever you have a question! The glow looks great! Mark