Magazine?

[Guest davidh10]

The editor contacted me and note that he is reading ALL your comments and really is listening...

It was interesting to see it confirmed in the magazine that it would be published on the new RAA web site. That will be great, as by the time I receive my copy, the discussion on this site, around article topics has often concluded.

I hope the publishing approach is along the lines of indexed Blogs rather than the "Magazine Reader" approach that has been taken by some magazines that have ventured on-line.

 

The "Magazine Reader" to which I refer is effectively an application that runs in the web browser and tries to present the magazine in the same form as the paper edition, with two pages presented at an opening. Turning the page presents the next two pages. This means that the text is so small it is greeked (you can only read headings and look at pictures) so you have to zoom in and navigate around the page to read it. You cannot scroll down to the next page, but have to turn the page, scroll left and up to get to the top of the next page. Bad enough on a PC, but on the new mobile devices, just forget even trying.

 

Having articles in newspaper width columns, means that you may have to scroll down the first column, then back to the top for the second and i turn, third columns on a single page. That layout is ludicrous for browser based reading.

 

While the idea is innovative, it is clearly born of a mind that is firmly rooted in the physical publishing world, and that model just does not fit the Internet. (the technology comes from www . texterity . com) {spaces in the url are intentional to prevent a link being created}

 

I have given up reading one Australian technical journal, to which I used to subscribe physically until they decided to go fully electronic. The response across all subscribers was so poor that after six months they re-commenced paper publishing in parallel with the electronic publication. I wonder how many readers they lost permanently in that six month period. I'm one.

 

A much better approach is the www.techrepublic.com site, however they have recently upgraded and while the publishing area is still excellent, the comments area is less functional than prior to the upgrade. That said, there are also some pluses for the new comments approach.

 

The Internet is an evolving place. Nobody can expect to stay static. While techies, like myself, have been using bulletin boards and text based NNTP news group readers for over 30 years, the new web based Blog sites (like Tech Republic and this site) are much more friendly to non-techies. With the amount of content abounding these days, use of RSS is just about a must these days, so readers can sort their own wheat and chaff, gaining quick access to the content they want and ignoring the rest.

 

I hope this is useful input, albeit about an event in the future ;-)

 

 

[Guest Andys@coffs]

I agree with David, the CASA flight safety rag is an example of an electronic mag format that David and I hate. I understand why they do it, having put the paper version together and having a PDF output they just dont want to have to do anymore....where as instead of the electronic format being driven by the paper format, have it set up in Blog style such that the content gets added over the entire month rather than just big bang at the publishing time. As an advertiser I would much prefer that approach because my adds might get looked at multiple times in a month rather than just once by the same reader. I t also means that you can use your online readers to edit the content or point out mistakes or indeed to provide parallel experiences which might make the paper version more interesting as you choose to expand an article to include others experiences.... Those horrible fit 2 pages and then use zoom in and zoom out and wait for images to update each time you zoom in......About as much fun as beating yourself with a wip in the corner...might do it for some, but I'll avoid if I can

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Steve Runciman, I know you have been away visiting some wet, damp, small, insignificent little island to the North somewhere, however you need to make an effort to do some reserch also prior to commenting !....I corrected my error way back in post # 90 . However welcome back, hope to catch you for a larger sometime.......................................................................Maj...

 

 

[Guest Steven Runciman]

Steve Runciman, I know you have been away visiting some wet, damp, small, insignificent little island to the North somewhere, however you need to make an effort to do some reserch also prior to commenting !....I corrected my error way back in post # 90 . However welcome back, hope to catch you for a larger sometime.......................................................................Maj...

Ross,

 

Well done you and well done to Nev for correcting the error of your ways. A beer sounds good to me and PS your buying! :big_grin:

 

Steve

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Our magazines arrived today - one with an Australia Post sticker "Qld Residue" so I guess we were on the top of a pile of non Capital City deliveries. 16th June - a week later and it could be called July. My first impressions were that it appeared "busy" a bit cluttered and a little confused - the headings with different fonts and colours and angled photos did contribute to that. Bear in mind that my usual reading is technical where getting to the point and then detailing research with little fanfare and few enticements to read are the norm. I accept that some readers and casual newsstand purchasers would need some pazzow to induce them to indulge.

 

At first glance the content appears to appeal to a wide audience - age range & gender of pilots & people featured, subject matter (engines, photography, test drive, techniques) and the "usual" RAA columns. The CEO's page is understandable (perhaps edited for clarity?) as I found some of his allusions a little difficult to understand in previous editions. I am glad the test fly wasn't simply a "medial release" and I appreciated the (brief) look at Jaspers Brush which we have been discussing on another thread. The effort to find something that appeals and such a wide range of readers is a credit to the editorial staff.

 

My additional suggestions for improvement (well, improvement in my eyes) would be to:-

 

• put the defects / incidents in smaller point size (as Flight Safety do) so as not to make a feature of them for the public (don't frighten them off!)
   
   
  
• Members' Market - get the aspect ratio of photographs more towards the 'norm' so they don't appear oddly cropped, may be altering column width?
   
   
  
• Improving the photographs of our leaders - a more relaxed, happy image with open body language rather than the "glowering down at you" stance. I look at the pictures and ask myself would I feel comfortable approaching this person. We say Recreational - its about having fun, and inviting the reader in
   
   
  
• A little more "news" would be good - the note about "why did Piper pull out" was interesting.
   
   
  

 

 

 

On-line version - I am a subscriber to several tomes that have decided to go partly or wholly on-line. I rarely or never read my on-line journals - not because I don't like the internet, but simply because some don't remind me they are available, or I really don't have that much interest as I was a member for other reasons. A print version I will pick up and flip through and read more, than an on-line version, which I approach with the "google search" mentality. I prefer those publications that have a teaser which then opens up the full article in an easily readable font with higher resolution photos, devoid of the fancy formatting - I want the content not the inducements to read.

 

I had a look at the newsagent's display - ours is a small combined newsagent and Aust Post agency, so space is tight. The first 5-10cm of the top corner is all you see and it didn't stand out. They only stock one to three copies of aviation magazines, but their range is wide - 18 titles.

 

On the whole - Well Done! Now to give it a thorough read.

 

 

 

Sue

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

I agree with David, the CASA flight safety rag is an example of an electronic mag format that David and I hate. I understand why they do it, having put the paper version together and having a PDF output they just dont want to have to do anymore....

Actually they have no excuse where it is published in PDF format. Being computer technical, Andy, I'm sure you have seen software sites where the manual is offered in various forms (single web page, web page per topic, PDF...) It is written in the DocBook standard, once. Content and formatting are completely independent, so the content can be automatically processed into multiple differently formatted forms. O'Reilly Publishing uses it to also print books (physical as well as on-line). The content is written in XML (a plain text markup language) in which the markup is used to indicate the symantic aspects of formatting, like a "heading", "emphasised", "quote, paragraph, term, author, publication date, abstract, ...". There's a large number of defined semantic contexts defined in the DocBook standard.

So the author no longer needs to think about fonts or point size or leading or margins, or line breaks (except where he inserts a symantic line break), even whether it is destined for a web page or a printed book or a PDF, and all can have separate layouts that suit the media. It wouldn't be difficult to produce multiple PDF outputs with different formats. One to sent to the publisher to be printed and another to provide for reading on some reader device like a PC or SmartPhone... but I digress :-)

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Why not David, ....

Done.

New thread started here.

 

 

[drifterdriver]

Hey Don,

 

You didn't put it in the top corner so that it stood out did you? Actually the editor should offer a prize for the most inventive magazine placement that enhances sales.

 

Nick

 

 

[kgwilson]

Now I've seen the cover. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive. Perhaps they send them alphabetically so us W-Zs will get it next month.

 

 

[Powerin]

Now I've seen the cover. I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive. Perhaps they send them alphabetically so us W-Zs will get it next month.

Good theory...but I'm a Z and got mine Tuesday . But it would be nice if members at least got their copies before the newstands.

 

 

[sfGnome]

Got mine. I liked the changes inside (the prop on the cover looks remarkably like the advertiser's one just inside ). The un-posed photo of Mick Poole worked well, though his column could have done with some editing. In the absence of anything much to say about Natfly, I enjoyed the vignettes, particularly of the coffee lady (seeing I spent so much time in her queue...). Fresh ideas are always good.

 

Maybe there could be a monthly focus on a particular airstrip. The bulk of the copy could be written from phone interviews with a couple of the local big wigs, with photos supplied by the same? That'd fill a few pages each month, and we'd all get to know a bit more about what was available, who was there and what kind of locality it was in.

 

 

[pudestcon]

Well I had read the article on 2 strokes in the magazine and was flicking through the pages and something caught my eye so I took another look at pages 40 - 41. A really good feel good story about Lyn Best and her start on this flying journey we are all part of. Well done Lyn for getting your solo 'out the way', I'm sure you'll remember it forever.

 

Now what was it that caught my eye?.... don't think it was the aircraft in the photos.......

 

Pud

 

 

[Ed Herring]

I don't mind the online mag that looks like a mag. But I read them on a 23" screen linked to my Notebook and they are easy enough to read without zooming. For all that I do understand that not everybody is using that setup and there advantages to be had with making the magazine (online version) more interactive and therefore informative and interesting.This is what it looked like in a Newsagents in Newcastle, NSW.

 

[ATTACH=full]14135[/ATTACH]

Thanks for the photo Don... At least i know what the cover looks like as i still have not recieved my copy yet. Australia Post ( or someone ) needs to get the distribution and the delivery of our Magazine sorted a lot better than it is...!

 

Best Regards

 

ED

 

 

[Guernsey]

Come on Don, don't you start using an otiose superabundance of pollysylabic vocables as well. (not sure if my spellings are correct but somebody will put me right). Alan Marriette.

 

 

[Powerin]

It is just so lazy how, in CASA rules & regs, no statement is complete in itself. The author (CASA) has you jumping from one section to another to another and back again. You need to be sitting down or you'd get dizzy. Is it more important that people can read and readily get a grip on what's required or some lawyer thinks he's nailed the legalities to the nth degree? Imagine if the (automotive) rules of the road were written like this. No prosecution would ever stand up because the ordinary person has been denied natural justice by having such convoluted, circumlocuse and verbose writing. (A bit like what I just wrote )

If one were a cynic one might think the justice system is self perpetuating. Highly paid experts are hired to write laws that only other highly paid experts can understand. Then the common person breaks the law because they couldn't understand it and has to hire a highly paid expert to defend themself against another prosecuting highly paid expert while a highly paid expert sits in judgement!

But I am not a cynic so I could never believe the above to be true .

 

Sorry...I'm off topic again.

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Come on Don, don't you start using an otiose superabundance of pollysylabic vocables as well. (not sure if my spellings are correct but somebody will put me right)

otiose superabundance of polysylabic vocables - Spelling :score008: polysyllabic (now write that 100 times)

 

 

in CASA parlance

 

1. Communications shall be, not withstanding sec 5© English Proficiency minima, be,

 

(a) conducted in a manner applicable to promote non-specificity and obtuseness, and,

 

(b) high level of profusity, and,

 

© expressed in multisegmentional resonance.

 

In plain English

 

lots of useless long sounds.

 

Love it Sue

 

 

 

[fly_tornado]

Don is already sounding a bit like Chairman Rudd

 

 

[Ed Herring]

The unkindest cut of all . . . . being accused of programmed specificity.

Don for Chairman... Gets my vote...!

 

 

[turboplanner]

yes, Don for President!

 

 

[Guernsey]

Don for President....proposed...seconded....and now carried.

 

Congratulations Don.

 

 

[sfGnome]

Hey SFG, that is a great idea.We could do articles on the little obscure airfields that are idyllically located such as Jaspers Brush and Campden Haven (ones I know of in NSW) there must be dozens around the country we haven't all heard of. Then we could do articles on the ones that under potential threat such as Warnervale and again Jaspers Brush etc. lets do it ... whoops, I guess that means some of us will have to write the articles and submit them.

OK Motz you better write something on Jaspers and I better write something on Warnervale, what do you reckon?

 

David

I must admit that I was thinking of the staff writers doing phone interviews so that there was a level of consistency from month to month, but why not get things started? Get a couple in and that might prompt others to tell us about their little bit of heaven...

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Gee just got home after my Friday commute from Shute Harbour in the Lightwing, sat down to read this magazine post for a bit, got up to check the mail and there is was ! Now I'll have a flick through it....See ya ........................Maj...

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

Got to say after a quick flick-thru I didn't mind it. All the usual ads and some new ones are there. must agree the classifieds do need some work with the cropped photos. They need to look at the old classifieds sections, which were presented well in the past and often the first section I would read..Looking foward to seeing some improvements in edition 2............................................Maj...

 

 

[airangel]

To me, SPORT PILOT, is not the name for the magazine. "Sport" suggests competition, which is really not part of our activities. I still think we are Recreational Pilots.

 

 

[kgwilson]

Got my Mag yesterday, 9 days after the start of this thread. I have a PO Box number and we are on the main north-south highway so it beats me how there can be such a large variance in the distribution chain unless they are drip fed into the post by the publisher. Mail normally gets to me within 2 - 3 days from almost anywhere in Australia.