Encyclopedias have always showcased culture and style. Das Referenz strives to build on this heritage. With an eye for detail, Das Referenz puts Wikipedia’s vast amount of knowledge into a sleek package of clear layouts, world-class typography, and playful interactions.
IN THE PRESS
“Theres an old-world charm to das Referenz that makes it the go-to choice as a Wikipedia reader on the iPad.”
— Lifehacker
“The app is super sleek.”
Cult of Mac
“The app is, indeed, sleek.”
— CNet
“If you love spending your time browsing through pages and pages of content on Wikipedia, das Referenz is a godsend. Navigating through the app is fun and easy.”
— Beautiful Pixels
FAST & SMART
Quench your thirst for important facts and for trivia, too. Wikipedia research has never been more efficient: Swipe left and right to navigate your browser history in the article stack. Jump to sections with the TOC icon. The language switcher shows the title of the current article in other languages—what a fun way to learn German! Or French. Or Italian. Or . . .
ARTICLES IN STYLE
Never again will you need to poke around your browser window or stare at the Arial desert: In Das Referenz, images appear on the left, and the article appears on the right. Period. And of course, the placement of every pixel on the screen has been carefully considered. A clean layout is just so much more pleasant to read.
If you look closely, you will find even more stylistic hints of the golden age of ten-thousand page-long encyclopedias.
Article pictures are black and white—until you touch them—at which point they reveal their full range of colors and maximum resolution. Three font sizes guarantee you won’t have to waste time searching for your reading glasses.
WIKIDATA
For many articles, Das Referenz pulls additional data from Wikipedia’s latest endeavor: Wikidata. It’s used for the timelines you’ll find in articles on historical figures and celebrities. We will add additional interesting information and visualizations in the future—can’t wait to show you!
TYPOGRAPHY DETAILS
Das Referenz puts every article through a process of typographic refinement:
- Ligatures make font lovers happy.
- Hyphenation is available for many languages.
- Gruber’s Smarty Pants tries to educate dumb quotes. (If you don’t know what we’re talking about here, never mind!)
- Das Referenz is the only encyclopedia in the world that comes with a range of font weights and styles from the Marat family by typeface designer Ludwig Übele—for superior legibility and gorgeous looks, with and without serifs.
- Typographic niceties are featured in tables, quotes, and search result lists.
Das Referenz provides a superior reading experience that even Erik might like.
+++ Nominee for the German Design Award 2015 +++