Tablet and Zinio

tdonline · 08-19-2015, 08:50 PM

Question for those reading Zinio magazines on tablets:

Context: I read books and newspapers on my e-reader as I find reading paper really difficult nowadays. The font size I use is almost embarrassingly large. I'd like to to take advantage of my library's free Zinio service and read magazines that work better on tablets than on e-readers (NG, Smithsonion, etc). I do not own a tablet and have little experience with them.

From my brief experience with Zino on my laptop, text size flexibility and text reflowing is limited. I'm focused on buying a 10inch tablet so I can enough screen space to mimic reading a magazine page.

What are your experiences with Zinio and larger screen tablets. At 10inch, the screen would still be smaller than most paper magazines. Will that mean a small(er) font size? If zooming is available, does it take away from the "real magazine" reading? Is it quite seamless to zoom in/out and turn pages?

All thoughts appreciated.

AnemicOak · 08-19-2015, 10:02 PM

I find it works pretty well on my 8.9" tablet so would guess it'd be even better on a 10" or larger tab. On my tablet while I can read okay without zooming I find it easier to zoom in by double tapping the screen to read and double tapping again to get the full page again. This may or may not be enough zoom for you, if it's not you can also pinch to zoom (unpinch?) to get things even larger. It's mostly seamless, but there are occasions on my tablet where it takes a bit extra for the page to render in full resolution (also when zooming way in).

As to if it takes away from "real" magazine reading I'm not quite sure how to answer as I've never been a huge magazine reader nor seen it as any kind of particular "experience" (other than sometimes getting ink on my hands

) I often just read specific articles of interest and move on not reading the rest of a given issue. There are others here who probably use Zinio a lot more than I do so hopefully you'll get some more experienced answers about this.

tdonline · 08-20-2015, 10:03 AM

Quote:

On my tablet while I can read okay without zooming I find it easier to zoom in by double tapping the screen to read and double tapping again to get the full page again. This may or may not be enough zoom for you, if it's not you can also pinch to zoom (unpinch?) to get things even larger.

Thanks Anemic!

After zooming, is the font size noticeably bigger than what is used in paper magazines? If not, then getting a tablet for magazines would be pointless for me.

And with all that zooming, is there a lot of scrolling from side to to side to read a paragraph? That's part of what I mean about "real magazine" reading--where you don't have to scroll from side to side to read everything. If paragraphs do not fit within the width of the screen after extra-zooming--that would be annoying after awhile.

Purple Lady · 08-20-2015, 11:14 AM

I use Zinio for a few magazines, and they have an option to do text only on most articles. You can make the text fairly large using that option. Is there a specific magazine you are interested in? I could see if my library has it and check for a text only option for you.

AnemicOak · 08-20-2015, 11:20 AM

I don't get a text only option in Smithsonian, which is what I was testing, but don't think I have the most up to date version of the app either. EDIT: I just updated to the newest version and still no text or "reader" view in the issue of Smithsonian I was looking at.

Here are some screen shots of Smithsonian, one full screen, one when I double tap to zoom and one where I manually zoomed to fill the screen with a column of text. FWIW the device is 8.9" with a 2560x1600 pixel resolution (Fire HDX 8.9).

Purple Lady · 08-20-2015, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I don't get a text only option in Smithsonian, which is what I was testing, but don't think I have the most up to date version of the app either. EDIT: I just updated to the newest version and still no text or "reader" view in the issue of Smithsonian I was looking at.

Here are some screen shots of Smithsonian, one full screen, one when I double tap to zoom and one where I manually zoomed to fill the screen with a column of text. FWIW the device is 8.9" with a 2560x1600 pixel resolution (Fire HDX 8.9).

I just borrowed it and it now has text only options, which is good for this article since the text isn't all a narrow column. I couldn't read this without the text option on my Tab S 8.4.

Click image for larger version

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Purple Lady · 08-20-2015, 01:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

I don't get a text only option in Smithsonian, which is what I was testing, but don't think I have the most up to date version of the app either. EDIT: I just updated to the newest version and still no text or "reader" view in the issue of Smithsonian I was looking at.

Here are some screen shots of Smithsonian, one full screen, one when I double tap to zoom and one where I manually zoomed to fill the screen with a column of text. FWIW the device is 8.9" with a 2560x1600 pixel resolution (Fire HDX 8.9).

That does actually have a text only option on the bottom of the page. The text option only shows on the first page, and for this article that's a picture.

Click image for larger version

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tdonline · 08-20-2015, 02:37 PM

Purple, Anemic, thank you!!

I've used Zinio on my laptop and wasn't impressed with the font size/zooming options. I wasn't sure how that translated to tablets though. It seemed the option on PC was regular and zoom just a bit. Even with zooming, I found the text too small to read comfortably. Having a text only option would be great (especially if the font size is flexible).

Now, to find the right (and affordable) tablet...

AnemicOak · 08-20-2015, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

That does actually have a text only option on the bottom of the page. The text option only shows on the first page, and for this article that's a picture.

Good to know. I totally missed that and was expecting some kind of button no matter what page one was on.

AnemicOak · 08-20-2015, 05:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdonline

Now, to find the right (and affordable) tablet...

Look for something with pretty decent modern specs as some of the magazine files can be quite large. One of those super cheap tablets with 3-4 year old specs might be pretty slow rendering pages.

David-white · 08-20-2015, 10:25 PM

Sometimes the Zinio is realy good as they can give an option to do text on many articels..

David-white · 08-24-2015, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David-white

Sometimes the Zinio is realy good as they can give an option to do text on many articels..

Where is the edit place

i can't find it
Samsung Galaxy S6 case
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 case

tdonline · 08-25-2015, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David-white

Where is the edit place

i can't find it

Lower right hand corner of the post you want to edit.

08-19-2015, 08:50 PM	#1
tdonline Addict Posts: 309 Karma: 2644486 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: PW3, Nook Simple Touch	Tablet and Zinio Question for those reading Zinio magazines on tablets: Context: I read books and newspapers on my e-reader as I find reading paper really difficult nowadays. The font size I use is almost embarrassingly large. I'd like to to take advantage of my library's free Zinio service and read magazines that work better on tablets than on e-readers (NG, Smithsonion, etc). I do not own a tablet and have little experience with them. From my brief experience with Zino on my laptop, text size flexibility and text reflowing is limited. I'm focused on buying a 10inch tablet so I can enough screen space to mimic reading a magazine page. What are your experiences with Zinio and larger screen tablets. At 10inch, the screen would still be smaller than most paper magazines. Will that mean a small(er) font size? If zooming is available, does it take away from the "real magazine" reading? Is it quite seamless to zoom in/out and turn pages? All thoughts appreciated.

08-20-2015, 11:20 AM	#5
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	I don't get a text only option in Smithsonian, which is what I was testing, but don't think I have the most up to date version of the app either. EDIT: I just updated to the newest version and still no text or "reader" view in the issue of Smithsonian I was looking at. Here are some screen shots of Smithsonian, one full screen, one when I double tap to zoom and one where I manually zoomed to fill the screen with a column of text. FWIW the device is 8.9" with a 2560x1600 pixel resolution (Fire HDX 8.9). Attached Thumbnails Last edited by AnemicOak; 08-20-2015 at 11:25 AM.

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08-19-2015, 10:02 PM	#2
AnemicOak Bookaholic Posts: 14,391 Karma: 54969924 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Minnesota Device: iPad Mini 4, AuraHD, iPhone XR +	I find it works pretty well on my 8.9" tablet so would guess it'd be even better on a 10" or larger tab. On my tablet while I can read okay without zooming I find it easier to zoom in by double tapping the screen to read and double tapping again to get the full page again. This may or may not be enough zoom for you, if it's not you can also pinch to zoom (unpinch?) to get things even larger. It's mostly seamless, but there are occasions on my tablet where it takes a bit extra for the page to render in full resolution (also when zooming way in). As to if it takes away from "real" magazine reading I'm not quite sure how to answer as I've never been a huge magazine reader nor seen it as any kind of particular "experience" (other than sometimes getting ink on my hands ) I often just read specific articles of interest and move on not reading the rest of a given issue. There are others here who probably use Zinio a lot more than I do so hopefully you'll get some more experienced answers about this.

08-20-2015, 11:14 AM	#4
Purple Lady Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,698 Karma: 16542228 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Pennsylvania Device: Huawei MediaPad M5, LG V30, Boyue T80S, Nexus 7 LTE, K3 3G, Fire HD8	I use Zinio for a few magazines, and they have an option to do text only on most articles. You can make the text fairly large using that option. Is there a specific magazine you are interested in? I could see if my library has it and check for a text only option for you.

08-20-2015, 02:37 PM	#8
tdonline Addict Posts: 309 Karma: 2644486 Join Date: Dec 2011 Device: PW3, Nook Simple Touch	Purple, Anemic, thank you!! I've used Zinio on my laptop and wasn't impressed with the font size/zooming options. I wasn't sure how that translated to tablets though. It seemed the option on PC was regular and zoom just a bit. Even with zooming, I found the text too small to read comfortably. Having a text only option would be great (especially if the font size is flexible). Now, to find the right (and affordable) tablet...

08-20-2015, 10:25 PM	#11
David-white Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2015 Device: David-white	Sometimes the Zinio is realy good as they can give an option to do text on many articels..

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