Classic British Flight Sim

John,
I might just try that option. I was browsing through the copy of AW that prompted this topic yesterday, and was somewhat disappointed with the hard copy presentation. The paper quality seemed fairly cheap; the page construction was cramped with far too much material overlaid on other material; and the quantity of adverts was overwhelming. Obviously all methods of keeping the production cost down in the hopes of a profit. It will be interesting to see if the digital version is as good or better.

The main reason for my interest in that edition was of course the coverage of BOAC, and in that I was also disappointed in the number of pages dedicated to the edition's headline topic. Perhaps other magazines have different editorial styles which would be more to my liking. As I said, I'll explore what's involved in having a sample and see which magazines might suit my preferences more.

Thanks very much for your input,
Ro

The BOAC part was part two of a three part article on BA and it's heritage.

Hi Ro,

On the subject of digital magazines I agree with the things John said, but with magazines which are essentially copies of the paper magazine I find them less enjoyable than the paper one. I have an iPad and the screen size is quite a bit smaller than the average magazine page which makes everything smaller. I find I have to constantly zoom to make the text easily legible and scroll around the page which can be annoying when you're reading and looking at pictures, and if you want to go from a paragraph on one page to a photo on another it's doubly annoying. In portrait mode you can only see one page at a time so if there is a picture which covers two pages it can only be seen in it's entirety in landscape mode. Obviously with a further reduction in size.

The biggest advantages for me are being able to get a magazine as soon as it is published and not being dependent on either finding it in the centre of Milan where I am twice a week or having to suscribe and wait even longer for the postman to deliver it. I'm not saying they're slow or inconsistent but I have had monthly magazines delivered out of order.

The exception I've found is Bike magazine. This may not interest you but they make full use of the digital possibilities, for instance swiping left and right moves from one article to the next whilst you scroll vertically to read an article. It's designed to work in landscape orientation. The content is essentially the same as the paper version but it is laid out differently with photos inserted in the text more logically for a screen and most photos can be clicked on to give full screen versions. They also include some extra content that isn't in the magazine such as brief videos, and extra photos.
I hope that more publishers will take this route to improving their publications and make more use of the different capabilities of digital publishing.

Give it a go, I'll continue using the iPad if only for the convenience of obtaining magazines from England.

Jon

Jon,
thank you too for your input. You make some interesting points which would be particularly relevant to me as I would expect to be using my iPad mini - not wholly, but for general browsing. It sounds as if I'd be struggling to actually read a magazine using it ...

The answer definitely lies in those magazines which are specifically generated for web reading, but of course all of our current favourites are going to take some time before they move to that presentation style (if at all). I don't know what actual file format is currently used, but it sounds as if Bike is produced to make use of .PDF browsing facilities.

Thanks again - more food for thought,
regards,
Ro

Hi guys,

Would anyone be able to scan the BOAC article for me? I've tried to get hold of a copy but our local Waterstone's (Yes we've got one in Amsterdam!) had the January issue on the shelf until today, when they received the March one...

Would very much appreciate this as I've also tried to get hold of a copy through Key Publishing but the issue shows as 'out of stock'.

Thanks