Issue Reading New Digital Viewer

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Fowlers Fury on 10/02/2019 11:35:34:

"Why don't they just do what most of the other magazines I read online do and publish these as a PDF. You still have to be a subscriber to access them so what's the problem?"

Possibly because it is considered too easy to redistribute pdf versions e.g.within M.E.Socs.?

Because it is too easy to make rip-off pdf versions available on line.

Last year on our behalf the Publishers' Association issued over 4,000 take-down notices for pirate copies of ME and MEW.

Without that help, our digital sales would be hurt pretty hard.

Also, as many of our readers are members of societies, I wonder how many subscriptions we would lose through clubs distributing PDF copies compared to having a paper copy in the clubhouse?

Without sales income, there would be no magazine…

Neil

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Gray on 10/02/2019 09:09:53:

So typical of a web R&D dept doing very little R and absolutely no D!

Gray,

This reader has been around for donkey's years, it's an off the shelf product, not an in-house one.

Neil

[JESParticipant @jes]

I can no longer print from pocketmags so I am unable to take pages to the workshop, I am beginning to wonder if it is worth the subscription

jes

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

I can't print in PocketMags or through the Archive on this site either. (IE and Firefox)

Thats now 1 digital issue of MEW and 2 digital issues of ME that are not fit for purpose!

I'm going to cancel my subscriptions and demand a refund …..

MTM should have reverted back to the old viewer/format as soon as the issue was raised and not just blindly go on publishing issues that are not fit for purpose.

Dave

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

If that's how digital publishing is designed to work

Please don't ever stop publishing a print version !!

MichaelG.

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

Michael G – I guess you will be well aware of http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html – however several specialised print journals in both computing and electronics have either disappeared or become digital only. The great advantages of digital come with many significant disadvantages one of which is that someone else can be given full control over what and when you can read

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Exactly, Frances

MichaelG.

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 10/02/2019 18:37:16:

Posted by Gray on 10/02/2019 09:09:53:

So typical of a web R&D dept doing very little R and absolutely no D!

Gray,

This reader has been around for donkey's years, it's an off the shelf product, not an in-house one.

Neil

The implementation/integration of a replacement feature still needs to be carefully tested to ensure it is fit for purpose, that's the R&D to which I refer.

It so obviously needs its configuration 'fine tuning' something which should have been done long before it was 'inflicted' on an unsuspecting readership.

I echo the sentiments of others, put it back as it was or find a reader that is suitable for the task. I read many other publications online and none are as bad as this one.

I'm so glad I didn't give up on the print part of my subscription. Even the pocketmags reader is better than this and that frequently crashes!

Gray

[JESParticipant @jes]

This is a copy of an email received from pocket mags that puts the problem back in the publishers court

jes

Hi John,

Thank you for your email!

Unfortunately, digital issues are created by the publishers to be used solely for digital purposes. Because of this the digital issues are not compatible to be printed off. Alternatively, you can also contact the publishers directly as they may be able to assist you further.

If you are looking for the print subscription of a title, you can go to our sister site magazine.co.uk who facilitate print subscriptions, or go directly to the publishers.

Warm Regards,

Suzanne

Pocketmags Customer Service

Help@pocketmags.com

On Fri, 15 Feb at 3:24 PM , jesofmi <jesofmi@aol.com> wrote:

Up till now I have been able to print the odd page from Model Engineer to take into the workshop. This facility seems to have now disappeared is this a problem at pocket mags or with the html5 reader

Regards

John Stannard

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

JES you need to be aware that the Pocketmags VIEWER has never had the option to print a single page so there is no problem at their end.

MTM up until about a month ago used a flash based viewer with the option to print a page that is accessed via this site. This has now been changed to a non Flash player one which at present does not have the print option.

Neil has said that getting the print option added is being worked on. There are various settings on the new viewer, hopefully it just needs a back room boffin to tick the print box. 

It's a Flowpaper product and their mag viewer can have the print Icon added to the bar, if you click the image on this page it takes you to a demo mag viewer and the print icon is at the left of the bar.

Edited By JasonB on 16/02/2019 09:21:12

Edited By JasonB on 16/02/2019 09:27:43

[JESParticipant @jes]

I have tried the link you suggested, the Print function went through OK bur the results were just blank pages except for a header and the date and time at the bottom of the sheet.

I hope it is not me creating the problem, I am using Firefox.

If the pocketmags app never had the facility to print a single page how come I have been doing it for the last few years?

I hope the problem will be resolved soon, and am encouraged to here that Neil is on the problem

jes

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Maybe as it is a demo you can't get a good print, does not get as far a sprinting for me either but shows the option is available.

I may have been wrong but did not think PM had a print option.I don't use it much.

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

There is a 'Print' icon on the right hand side of the Pocket Mags viewer, when this is selected it gives you thumbnails of all the pages, and you can select 2 to print.

Just to throw something else into the mix …. The MTM Digital T&C's state that a Flash viewer will be used ….. This is not now the case so they have breached their own T&C's.Subscribers should have been told of the change of the T&C's and given the option to terminate their subscription with full refunds if they do not accept.

MTM need to fix this quickly and back-apply it to issues already published with the new downgraded viewer!

Dave

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Can't win. People were complaining they could not view with Flash now you start moaning when flash is removed

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

Posted by JasonB on 16/02/2019 12:31:11:

Can't win. People were complaining they could not view with Flash now you start moaning when flash is removed

Not quite true …. We are moaning that the PRINT functionality has been removed.

Dave

[Peter SansomParticipant @petersansom44767]

To top it off PocketMags have updated the web viewer that allows you to read the digital editions on any computer.

In the upgrade they have broken the print option when using the Chrome browser.

Peter

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Steambuff on 16/02/2019 13:06:48:

Posted by JasonB on 16/02/2019 12:31:11:

Can't win. People were complaining they could not view with Flash now you start moaning when flash is removed

Not quite true …. We are moaning that the PRINT functionality has been removed.

Dave

Actually, people have been moaning about the flash viewer for several years. rather more than are moaning about the lack of print. Which will hopefully be fixed.

Neil

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 16/02/2019 15:00:16:

Actually, people have been moaning about the flash viewer for several years.

Not "people" but rather the "terminally paranoid" who either could not, or refused to, use flash safely despite being shown how to do so in this forum many times.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Well, whatever the reason, support for flash is ending, so we have to move one anyway.

Neil

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 16/02/2019 20:00:58:

Well, whatever the reason, support for flash is ending, so we have to move one anyway.

Just to explain where I'm coming from:

The Flash version always worked well for me but I let my subscription lapse a year or two ago …. for health reasons I couldn't get the time to spend. Coincidentally, I had just decided that the time was ripe to take out a new subscription when this thread started up and I realised the earlier Flash version was being dropped.

That (the renewal) is on hold now, until the situation resolves itself one way or the other – trouble is I don't want to pay the money to find out if it works as well as it used to.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Fair enough.

I think the old flash versions will remain as they are.

Neil

[Enough!Participant @enough]

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 16/02/2019 20:00:58:

Well, whatever the reason, support for flash is ending, so we have to move one anyway.

I think the old flash versions will remain as they are.

Those are interesting comments taken together. Doesn't that mean that if support for Flash ends (in browsers) the earlier, back-issues, won't be readable?

… or am I misunderstanding?

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by Bandersnatch on 18/02/2019 16:10:35:

Posted by Neil Wyatt on 16/02/2019 20:00:58:

Well, whatever the reason, support for flash is ending, so we have to move one anyway.

I think the old flash versions will remain as they are.

Those are interesting comments taken together. Doesn't that mean that if support for Flash ends (in browsers) the earlier, back-issues, won't be readable?

… or am I misunderstanding?

No, it chiefly means that any security vulnerabilities won't get addressed by updates to the software and future browsers are less and less likely to support flash without a legacy plugin.

Neil

[Peter SansomParticipant @petersansom44767]

Which means the archives will be unavailable to most people who keep their software up to date. Google removed Java support from Chrome several years ago as part of security updates, you cannot install the Java plugin for Chrome and run Java plugins. Yes, today Java is still used on websites, but that is running Java on the server.

Firefox changed their plugin method about 18 months ago. They provided about 6 months ability to run legacy plugins. If the plugins were not rewritten they stopped working.

That is the future of Flash it will die and we will not be able to access the archives.

Surely, after they get the new viewer working someone can find a script on the web to convert from flash to the new viewer. Certainly there will be one to convert to HTML5, the Java replacement.

Withthe PocketMags viewer I have had an email confirming that the is a bug in the current release preventing printing when using Chrome, the bug is confirmed. They are working to fix the printing bug.

Peter

[JESParticipant @jes]

I can confirm that the print function on Pocketmags is working on Firefox

JES

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