Monday, February 13, 2012

Simplifications

Yes, it is long overdue. I admit it, the start page has been cluttered and confusing.

Starting today, there is a new simple FeedJournal start page that will let you test the service without having to provide an e-mail address.

This serves as a new starting point for where FeedJournal is heading. Future work will involve social features and better integration with other services. Stay tuned for updates! 

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Controlling Headline Size

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In FeedJournal Publisher you now have better control over the headline size.

The headline size is a function of the article length and how it best fits into the page. Until today, the headline size could be 25% smaller and 25% larger than specified by the headline pixel size.

Now, you can set how by how many percent the headline size can be decreased or increased in the newspaper.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Improved Images Enables Ads, Cartoons

One of the most requested features coming from FeedJournal Publisher customers and trial users is advertisement integration in the newspaper. Fact is, both traditional and online imagenewspapers make their living from selling ad space. Up till now it has been difficult to use ads in a FeedJournal generated newspaper.

With today’s update, FeedJournal is taking the first step in this direction. By using a feed with only images, and no text, the image will be included without shrinking in size. Also, no meta-information, such as article title, author, or publishing date, is included for articles containing only an image and no text.

This feature also solves another commonly requested feature: cartoons in FeedJournal. For an example see the Dilbert strip in the sidebar image.

I am certain that there are many more interesting use cases for images, beside ads and cartoons. Please share in the comments how you like to use this new feature.

Why not try out the new feature and give feedback on how it is working for you and how you would like to see it evolve. And, perhaps you have some suggestions for great image feeds?

If you are trying out this feature in FeedJournal Reader, make sure that you enable Images both for the image feed (e.g., Dilbert) when you click the Generate Newspaper button.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Bringing a Little Color

Users of FeedJournal Publisher is now able to tweak the different text areas imageof the article and page using color as well as standard font metrics. This way headlines can be green, page numbers grey, and article text black, as in the screenshot here.

This let’s you further brand your printable content to the color palette of your corporate profile, or logo.

These sections can now be fully customized by color, as well as font properties:

  • Article Headline
  • Article Text
  • Jump Headline
  • Jump Source
  • Submission Date
  • News Source
  • Page One Header
  • Page Number
  • Section

Monday, May 24, 2010

The Troublesome Slash

When URLs became ubiquitous in published texts, the typographical problem of the non-breaking forward slash (/) also became more painful. In web browsers you often see URLs stretching beyond the intended line break, and sometimes rivers of text form (as in FeedJournal) because the slash character does not break the line.

In newspapers, this is a bigger concern because of the narrow columns used. Starting today, FeedJournal defines the forward slash character as a potential line breaker - an improvement that I hope will make it easier for you to read your newspaper. The screenshot below shows you how FeedJournal now breaks URLs.

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Saturday, May 8, 2010

FeedJournal on the iPad in HTML5

iPad Scribd, one of the major online document sharing sites has made a visionary move in replacing their Flash reader with HTML5. Scribd also announced their change, appropriately in HTML5 format. Now, anyone with a modern web browser can read documents uploaded to Scribd without the need for the Flash plug-in. This move is especially welcome for iPad users, who can’t use Flash technology on their devices.

The move diversifies the competition in a crowded market. Scribd becomes the iPad-friendly HTML5 option; Issuu is the option for an attractive reader; and doXtop is the enterprise option with SharePoint support. I love the move because it will drive innovation in the market. Many people will follow how this move plays out very closely.

But how does it affect FeedJournal, you ask? FeedJournal generates your personal newspaper in PDF format. Readers have so far needed a PDF reader, such as Adobe Reader to read and print the newspaper. Now, this is no longer the case. Now, you can upload the new FeedJournal issue to Scribd and have anyone with a modern web browser (such as in the iPad or for 97% of all PC users) read it or print it. We will soon make it even easier to upload PDF files to Scribd, Issue and doXtop.

For an example of how FeedJournal looks in HTML5, check out the May 6 issue of Liberty Newspost.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Curl Up with the Internet

I enjoyed the tweet from travisbedard, suggesting FeedJournal can be used when you want to curl up with the Internet. That was exactly the use case that started off FeedJournal in the first place.

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As time went by, we discovered so many more uses for the service, such as publishing your own material in PDF format, or going green and reading your material on an iPad or Kindle.