View Single Post
  #1   Report Post  
Old January 12th 13, 05:35 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.moderated
Bill Horne[_4_] Bill Horne[_4_] is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Mar 2008
Posts: 115
Default ARRL drops the other shoe on print version of QST

I just got the email from the ARRL:

"QST's Stacking Up? Get Digital QST Only".

.... with a button to push if I want to opt out of getting the "dead
tree" version of QST.

Now, let me make it clear that I don't have any problem with people who
want the printed version. I also don't have a quarrel with those who
prefer an online publication.

I've been a life member of the ARRL since 1972. They do some good and
important things in Newington. What they are not doing, at least not
yet, is producing a version of QST that can be used online.

There are some nice features, such as clickable links in the table of
contents. They are a good start toward making QST online more usable.

But ...

From what I've seen of the online edition, it looks like the pdf file
that was sent to the printer to make the paper-and-ink version. The
articles are shown in page-image format, which means that each page
appears as it would if I were holding the paper-and-ink version open,
but with the lower 2/3 of each page obscured. I have to page down to the
bottom of one column, go back to the top, go down to the bottom of the
second, etc.

It's not going to work for me. When it comes to digital publications, I
go back so far that I get to say "We used to write on the disks with a
chisel", and this isn't going to work. Computers are /not/ the same as
print media: graphic displays are not going to work well with content
that is formatted for a magazine.

In short: "A" for effort, but "D" for results. Check back later.

73,

Bill, W1AC

--
Bill Horne
(Remove QRM from my address to write to me directly)