Bill - device please

Bill:

We need to know what device you are using to view these pages, if you are looking at the PDF or the online version and if you're reading the embedded or standard edition.

When we view these pages on our computers or in the online edition, the diagrams are there ... so we need to determine what's so special about you.

oops

Sorry Joe-

iMac: portrait standard .pdf

iPad: Landscape standard .pdf

I also just downloaded the portrait (standard edition) on my iPad and those two pictures are missing in that edition as well.

Okay Bill, try the Portrait std again

Okay Bill, we put in a possible fix for the diagrams in the Portrait version, both the mirror and the main server.

Go ahead and take a look and see if the diagrams are back on your Mac and your iPad.

If this worked, then we will apply the same fix to all the other versions.

progress

Okay...whatever you changed only worked for image 21.  Image 20 is still missing (I tried both mirror and main; iPad and iMac.  Same result for all):

Website Front Page = January 2013 still?

Looks like the front page of "model-railroad-hobbyist.com" still needs to be updated to reflect the fact February 2013 has been released? Its showing and linking to January, even after a forced reload of the page bypassing the browser cache.

It's called bake in time

We always let the new issue bake in at least a day before we tell the hords about it.

This issue, the first now that the dust has settled a little on how Gen2 will be formatted (both Landscape and Portrait versions available - Facing pages Portrait just didn't fly) there are still a number of inconsistencies around how the images are displaying.

Our tests now have the images displaying correctly, so once we have a solid issue with all the ugly bugs stamped out, then we will update the front page and send out the email blast.

Always, always, always, we give it some bake in time - it's not a mistake to not change the front page yet, it's very deliberate.

I'm having the same 21 and 22

Landscape on Android

FWIW, 20 and 21 show up fine on my Android 4 (ICS) tablet with the Landscape (STD) version. 

It's slow going though.... I'm not sure that ezPDF really knows how to handle files of that size. 

Okay, all known bugs fixed

Okay, all known bugs fixed. The track plan images 21 and 22 now display on an iPad and a Mac and all the faded images now display the images with with this rollout. The new tools we're using for Gen2 take some getting used to and we now know what to test for in future issues, so things should get back to their usual smooth rollout again.

We're getting a lot of emails expressing support for the two format options - Landscape and Portrait - so you're welcome!

Back to having fun with trains!

Landscape Format

Joe,

Just wanted to thank you for finding a way to keep the landscape format. I only read the magazine on a desktop and found the other formats unwieldy to say the least.

Dave B

Printer friendly version

What happened to the printer friendly black and white version?

locking up

I!m using a nook hd and the feb issue is  locking up at the exactrail ad.

Can't Download anymore!!

It's too bad we can't download it anymore with the new format!! It took me about ten attempts before I finally got the Jan issue to download. I still haven't got the Feb issue to download after at least 20 attempts. Talk about wasting time.

What sort of problem is occurring?

Pie Man Dan, 

Are you getting an error message, is it timing out, what? Have you tried the alternative downloads? 

If the download is failing, try other options

If the Flash downloader is failing, don't just keep trying it - it is finicky (thank you Adobe - Flash's finicky nature is why Apple doesn't allow it on their iPad and iPhone at all).

We list many other options you can try here under our help menu:

mrhmag.com/help/download-stopped-working

We find when people can't seem to get the download to work, they just keep trying a method that's failing. You need to change the approach to get it to finally work - things like try the mirror instead of the primary, or try the green button other copy options, or try the download on the cover page of the online edition.

So far 100% of the time, people have gotten satisfaction using one of these alternatives.

Hatfields and McCoys

True, flash is finicky and prone to crashes especially on Macs. Yes, there are legitimate technical issues. Yes, HTML5 will eventually make it all moot (mostly). Still, there is a more childish reason why flash is not on Apple - Steve Jobs' feud with Adobe.

http://www.greenm3.com/gdcblog/2010/4/14/what-is-behind-the-adobe-vs-apple-feud.html

It is a shame. Had Flash and iOS developed side-by-side over the years one can only dream about the ultra cool mobile experience we would have now. Flash takes a lot of beating but under the hood it is a wickedly powerful engine. It is poor coding on the part of developers that gives Flash a black eye not the Flash environment itself. Ah, what could have been....  

Flash and our experiences

We drank the Adobe kool-aid and believed Adobe that 98% of all machines out there had Flash installed when we rolled out MRH issue 1 in 2009.

We immediately got innundated with over 100 problem emails from people who could not get this, that, or the other thing to work on Flash. Old machines, Macs, Linux, new Vista machines ... the problems were many and complex. It was reminiscent of the Gen2 rollout only a lot worse.

Like Gen2, we turned on a dime and produced a new version of the magazine intended to solve the concerns, and most of all, to REMOVE our dependence on Flash totally - thus the Standard Edition was born. No embedded media - put in on the web with the assumption that if your web browser could play it, life was good, No more PDF and Flash headaches.

Once we removed Flash from the mix, our support issues dried up to a trickle. You can talk about how powerful Flash may be under the hood all you want, but in our experience, it is a total support nightmare to have any significant dependence on Flash as a cross-platform technology.

I felt Apple's stand on Flash was a breath of fresh air - finally someone was cutting through the hype and telling it like it was - Flash was a total support quagmire. It may have been politically motivated, but it was the right thing to do, IMO. Things were never better for us than when we dropped our dependence on Flash.

Sugar-free Adobe kool-aid

After watching the grief you took from the Gen II launch, which seemed pretty straightforward at the onset, I totally understand why you would avoid anything that is not absolutely assured in every browser, every computer, and every device.

My point is the Flash development environment itself is (was) not at fault. It is what people do with it (poorly) that causes most of the problems. To borrow a popular phrase... Flash doesn't kill computers, people do. OK, other than the Mac issues.

I often equate Flash to a nitro motor. Properly assembled and properly tuned it will make more HP per cubic inch than any other IC engine on the planet. Make one small mistake somewhere and it is an explosion in the making. Does that mean all nitro motors are bad? Of course not, but it does mean nitro motors would be disaster in the general public. Such it seems was Flash. Too finicky for general transportation. But if you want to go really fast......

          Flash Done Right                                                               Flash Done Wrong

Love the magazine

I may have bought my last Model Railroader subscription. I haven't looked at all the back issues but what I have seen leads me to believe that MRH is just about all I need.

Thanks for all your hard work.

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