Woodworkers Journal Digital Edition

jim crockett

Member
Messages
120
Location
Jay, Maine
WWJ has just begun releasing their full magazine in digital format. The August edition is available for free at http://www.zinio.com/express3?issue=273042679. You can view the issue online or you can download the Zinio Reader and download the magazine to read on your computer at your leisure.

Good opportunity to take a look at the digital version and to get a free issue if you do not subscribe.

Jim
 
Jim,

Thanks for the info on the digital version. :thumb:

Has anyone else received the Aug. issue in the mail yet? I keep checking my mail box thinking one should be here any day now......
 
Thanks. The digital version is interesting, but in my opinion the zinio reader is not good enough. When you zoom in enough to read, there is no way that I found to smoothly keep on reading and turning pages. You need to use multiple commands, and it zooms back out when you turn the page, so you need to zoom in for each page, navigate about to read what's there, and then start over again for the next page. It could be that some of my inconvenience was an interaction of my browser (firefox under vista) with the program.

The inconvenience becomes very apparent when you click on help, to look for a better way to navigate, and the help pages are simple html, much easier to navigate than the magazine. Why not just use pdf or html format?

For a reader to be acceptable, it needs to get out of the way, and after you've chosen a format to read, just let you read as smoothly as possible with a minimum of commands. Being able to change formats and click on links is fine, but being forced to mess with that stuff when you just want to read is not.
 
I really agree with Alan - that reader is miserable. One problem is that it only offers steps of 100% - so you can see it at 100%, 200% etc. You really need to be able to scroll the magnification. At 100% on my screen I can't read it and at 200% it's too big which makes it hard to read (too much scrolling - and the scrolling bars don't work well).

They must have done NO beta testing on that reader or just ignored the feedback.

Mike
 
In addition to the already mentioned issues, I'm finding the text rather fuzzy when you magnify. Too small to read w/o magnification and the text gets fuzzy when you do magnify. I'll stick with the hardcopy so I dont have to take my laptop into the bathroom.
 
WWJ Digital Version

I wonder if the staff from WWJ monitor this forum. I concur with all of the points about the Zinio reader - there are much better readers available - but unless WWJ hears about it, they won't change it.

Jim
 
Jim, thanks for the heads up...I don't get the hard copy, but I do get the email version...usually not much of an offering with that. I like the online version. I can scan thru the pages I'm not interested in and then I printed out the article on bowl turning and pen turning. Another plus is that I won't have another mag to add to my ever growing pile that the LOML continues to frown at!
 
I have not used any other reader, but do not have any problems with this one. Of course, my screen is 22" and that might make a difference. I do not have any of the fuzzy issues described above. Works good for me and I like it!

I am using Firefox 3 and Windows XP.

John
 
Was not fuzzy at all for me, and I like the price :D
That one was just a sample - there's a subscription price if you want to keep receiving it.

I'd like to get magazines electronically. If done well, you could search them to find things you're interested in, and you could keep the back copies on your computer instead of having them take so much physical space.

Mike
 
I tried it online, but find it tedious.

It's clear enough, but just the idea of 'turning pages' online doesn't appeal to me.

One other quirk - trying to use one of the embedded links, and opening it in a new tab (MSIE 7) doesn't work, nor does right-clicking it. I had to left click, and it opened another MSIE to display it.

I'll pass - at least until improvements are made.
 
hello all ,

i just emailed rob johnstone , the senior editor of WWJ and told him about our site . i welcomed him to read the comments first hand about zino . hopefully this is only "growing pains" for the ezine and will be corrected in due course . please keep the comments coming so the people over there will make this the best ezine going :thumb:
 
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