Looks Like Your Are Pushing Mobile Devices

Two things, the MRH crew is pushing mobile devices and with no way built in to page back or actually page forward except for the use of the arrow keys on a home computer, this format is difficult for the computer reader to navigate.  My PC doesn't have a page flipper capability that I was able to fine.  From what was a very intuitive format to what is demonstrated in this produce so far, this is a major step into user unfriendly.

Your prejudice against trolleys really came out in your comments about the layouts submitted.

Two things in reply

First we expect some rough bumps on a new release, and if not having next and prev buttons is a problem, then it's not that hard to add them.

Second, the staff didn't feel traction has broad enough appeal for hobby newcomers to make it a first choice as a starter layout. Call it what you want, the hobby population who model traction make it a specialty interest. If we're that biased against traction, would we have given it an honorable mention even though it was not in the running - and expect to publish the submission?

All submissions were scored on a number of factors and while the traction layout submission did not score high enough on a broad spectrum of criteria to place at all, we wanted to call it out for honorable mention and as a result will be publishing it anyway. Be careful you have all the facts before laying charges of negative bias ...

Scroll for next page

Tom,

I use a PC as well, and I have ALWAYS used the scroll button on my mouse to go forward or backward a page. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard. Don't see what the problem is. I am using XP - firefox and adobe reader.

I am starting to really like this new format. I grows on you. I didn't care for the landscape format when the magazine started. It soon became natural for me. Now that it is displayed in portrait format, it just takes a little getting used to. 

All in all, I think it is a fantastic publication. The content is what it is all about. Like learning a new software program, you have to embrace the new and learn to work with it.

Change can be difficult sometimes, but accept it and it can be your friend. This new format is just as user friendly, it just looks different.

Nice going Joe. Once all the little quirks are ironed out, it will be back to it's usual greatness.

Randy

APPS

App to read are nice

Not impressed

I do not think the changes are a improvement in the least.  It's too much of a dumbing down of the publication.  From the font to the page orientation to huge space at the bottoms to cater to the smaller screen's.  Format change is just odd and really is not beneficial when reading on iPad's or computers.  This caters way to much to the really small screens and I would hope that MRH would learn from the mistakes of others that they are different platforms that need different approaches.

Overall I've really enjoyed MRH since it came out, but I'm very dubious of this new direction.

David

Indifferent

I'm not a huge fan of the change, but I'm not particularly bothered by it, either.  I always download the Linux (now the "Everything but Windows") version, and I use a free PDF reader to read it.  I don't like or want time consuming and useless animations of pages flipping, but I can avoid them easily enough.  Now, If I could just get the online version to stop being animated (used it to find the reader survey just now, and not impressed), I'd be a happy camper.

As far as I'm concerned, as long as the content does not change the way Klambake's publications have, I'll be content.  I

We could do without the animations too

We could do without the page flip animations too. Just slightly annoying and an anachronism. Come on, digital isn't paper, so why slow the sucker down with page flip animations? It's really kind of silly.

Uberflip, the alternative to Flippingpage that we looked at was nice that way - you could get rid of the stupid fake gutter and you could make the spread flips just do a quick slide in like powerpoint - very nice. However, Uberflip didn't hold up well in our Android testing - it cut off parts of the page, stole page real estate for extra function buttons, stuff like that. But Flippingpage was the closest so we're submitting feature requests for the rest and hope they're listening.

If we could find one product that did it all, wouldn't life be great?

FYI. iPad2 stuff

Best reading experience on iPads

For the best reading experience with MRH on iPads, we still recommend GoodReader. It's $5 and it makes reading MRH Gen1 or 2 a very pleasant experience.

On Gen2, set GoodReader to Double Pages with Front Cover as shown in the January issue Staff Notes. Very nice, and looks just like Gen1 used to.

Reading between the li... erm... bars.

Given that the trend is toward smart phones and tablet computers for mobile computing and reading, I must commend your efforts to provide MRH on a broad assortment of platforms. For those of us who were building webpages at the dawn of the internet, we know how insane it is to try to make the same document appear relatively the same on different browsers, each with its own proprietary notion of how to display things. *shudders*

I have tried out the new format on my Motorola Droid Razr Maxx (Android 4.0.4). Laying on the sofa reading it definitely beats sitting in front of my computer screen! The only 'glitch' I've noticed thus far is that on some pages, the black bar at the top of the screen cuts off the top-most line of text, and the ghost bar at the bottom occasionally obscures the lowest line(s), making them difficult to read. Is this unique to my screen size and flavor of Droid, or is it a side effect of trying to make things work across different platforms?

Keep up the great work, and a happy and prosperous New Year, to you and the rest of the MRH family!

~AJ Kleipass

AJ - Droid question

AJ,

Which version are you reading - Flippingbook or PDF - on your phone? I've got a HTC Droid Incredible (Gingerbread) that I'd like to see if I can duplicate what you are seeing on it.

App to Run MRH

Where are the Contents and Index buttons?

I read MRH on a computer. There are a few points I'd like to make.

1. The easiest way to find an article is to go to the Contents page and click on the one you want, but on many pages the Contents and Index buttons don't appear. This seems to occur where there is a full page ad. Why does the ad take up the whole depth of the page? Surely "a full page ad" should only occupy the space above the bottom bar which should be kept clear for navigation buttons, page arrows and the MRH issue details. What's worse is that this situation occurs at the end of several articles - just when you want to go back to the Contents page to find another article. Doesn't make sense and is most annoying.

2. The much larger print and smaller page size means a lot more pages - 279 in this issue vs an average of 136 for the previous 6 months - more than twice as many! One result of this is that many photos do not occur on the same page (or screen) as the text referring to them, making it awkward to keep track of a story when flipping backwards and forwards.

3. The large print on the computer screen makes me feel like I'm reading a kids' book. I'm struggling to understand how one format can be appropriate for different platforms. How about retaining the previous format for computers?

Regards

Tony

Australia

Starter Layout Contest

I do like the new format, which I viewed on an iPad mini.  It's more up to date and easier to use.

But it doesn't look like the feedback sent through there (and through the Safari browser) is working because you never got it. So I'm entering this through the desktop Firefox browser.

I'm excited to see your starter layour winners.

But it's too bad that you had to slam Chris DiPaolo's layout as being "of limited interest" even before we get to see. It's the first and only traction article in your magazine. Your unwelcome reception of it makes those of us who are trolley fans less likely to contribute articles, since apparently they will be "of limited interest."

I think model railroaders like to look at traction layouts because of the urban scenery and their compact layouts offers ideas on how to model small spaces.

New format is fine for me. My

New format is fine for me. My only problem is that the pages flip soooooo sloooooow. Like a drunk trying to read...LOL......Mike

...

At this point I only view MRH using the Online version.  The biggest navigation loss, to me, is that handy little bar of dots near the bottom of the screen.   That was my sole method of navigation when I was drawing up PB Tower, as I kept referring back to the text and especially the pictures for contextual notes.

The loss of page number thing - I'll just put it this way: there's publishing, and then there's professional publications.  if the professional publications [journals, scientific research bulletins, textbooks] are moving away from page numbers, then dump them.  But if it's just the Popular crowd moving away from them, well, I hate to say this, but you're looking at a crowd with on average an 8th grade reading level.  I'd hate to think the format would be headed in that direction too.  And I still don't really see how content should be even allowed to move form page to page; if someone resizes the font or changes font, it should keep the content within that page, perhaps resizing the page to suit the user's needs, but not moving the content to a whole new page!

OK, I get it

Making it more mobile device friendly IS smart, but the lack of page numbers and links from the index is, well, um, I just can't type the words to describe it. Please bring back page numbers

Page numbers will soon be non-existent...

My friend who has an Ipad2 showed me some of his ebooks he has on it.  He demonstrated how he could change the size of the font to make the text easier to read.  But that also meant it went from say 100 pages to over 200 pages. So page numbers in digital publications is somewhat archaic. 

Ken L

Pagination Flagellation

Making it more mobile device friendly IS smart, but the lack of page numbers and links from the index is, well, um, I just can't type the words to describe it. Please bring back page numbers

Why are page numbers necessary when all you have to do is click your mouse to get to a given article or adverticer? Dead tree books and magazines require them because they're accessed sequentially, similar to a tape recording or a computer tape.  If you want to hear a particular song on an old audio cassette after initially inserting the cassette, you have to fast forward the thing, similar to leafing through pages in a magazine or book. With electronic media, you can go straight to the article (or song, or file, or whatever) quickly and directly. Page numbers are a requirement for physical  publications. If they weren't needed for paper publications, they never would have been used. If they're not needed to find info electronically, why use them?  They only serve as a reminder of the way things used to be.

If you don't really need (metaphorically) to cut off the ends of the roast, you might as well quit doing it.

http://www.snopes.com/weddings/newlywed/secret.asp

IOW, if the necessity for doing something disappears, and you keep on doing it, you're on the road to OCD.

Mike

Starter layout contest

It appears we didn't do a good job of communicating the deal with the traction layout. Let me try this again.

1. The traction layout, like all layouts, was scored on a wide variety of criteria - many of which would not matter as to whether or not the layout was traction.

2. The traction layout did not score high enough in the across-the-board scoring to place at all.

3. We felt the traction layout idea was unique enough that we gave it an honorable mention anyway.

4. All submissions that placed will be published, including the honorable mentions. So calling out the traction layout, even though it scored low and is of "limited interest" will mean we WILL BE PUBLISHING IT.

The "limited interest" phrase is not intended to be judgmental, only to be a statement of the fact that the population of modelers who like traction is way smaller than those who like steam-to-diesel era, for instance. No slight intended. If pointing out that traction is a niche interest bothers some folks, then you need to get over it.

Let me also state that just because a topic has limited interest, we are still very interested in publishing so called limited interest content in MRH. In fact we went out of our way to give this traction layout an honorable mention even though it scored low, and by doing so, we made sure it's going to be published anyway.

So I think you misread our intent here.

Like a GPS with out any

Like a GPS with out any coordinates.  You know were you are this very time but without the coordinates of place you are going,  How do you plan on getting there?

You would never think about the numbers missing but when you get into the habit of using them for navigation you will find your lost with out them. 

Simply great on Android 10.1' tablet and 90° rotated monitor

What else can I add? I'm already used to a 90° rotated widescreen monitor attached to my PC, to properly read documents in electronic format, now MRH too turned to fit that orientation: I love it. Furthermore, when I use my tablet on the go, I love to read in vertical orientation, so... thank you for the new format.

page numbers

I need page numbers to find the place where I stopped reading last time. They don't however need to be in the text since I can drag the right side scroll bar and it will tell me the page number. Lets say a year from now I want to re read an article then i would click in the index.