These books have been released today for iBooks for iPads, iPhones, and I assume iPods. I’ve purchased the Mallee to Limestone Coast volume ($14). As pointed out to me when Carl first started this thread, they’re books, not apps. No sounds, no smart search, etc. I assume that this electronic version is laid out in similar fashion to the paper version. Unlike the full Pizzey and Knight, the text is intermingled with the pictures, and there’s far less of it. The index has a warning that because the electronic version has different pagination, you’re better off doing a search rather than trying to use the index. That makes sense because you can adjust the font size in iBooks, which changes all the page numbering. It would have been nice to be able to tap on a name in the index and go to the page, but you can’t. You can however tap and hold to highlight the word, then choose Search to save typing it. That doesn’t necessarily work when the index separates the parts of the names. E.g. There’s a heading for Tern, with Little on a separate line, so searching for just “little” isn’t going to get you far. The changed pagination means some birds are split across two pages. I changed the font to the smallest, and the layout to scrolling, and that makes it easier to get the bird concerned onto one screen. iBooks let’s you scroll though the pages, but you only see the chapter name and page number until you stop scrolling, so finding stuff isn’t going to be as easy as flipping book pages, but you can add book marks and highlighting. I bought it intending to use it on my ipad, and it has appeared automatically on my phone as well. It looks surprisingly usable there, I thought it would be just too small. I haven’t looked at the text much yet, but the pictures look the same as my full copy. I’m interested to hear others’ comments if they’ve bought it. Peter Shute Sent from my iPad > On 23 Aug 2013, at 10:31 am, “Carl Clifford” <carlsclifford@gmail.com> wrote: > > I notice that four regional guides based on the Pizzey field guide have been released. Has anyone had a chance to have a look at any? > > Carl Clifford > =============================== > > To unsubscribe from this mailing list, > send the message: > unsubscribe > (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) > to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au > > http://birding-aus.org > =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) to: birding-aus-request@vicnet.net.au http://birding-aus.org ===============================
It’s the index that doesn’t have clickable links, Russell. However there’s a quick reference guide after the contents that you can click on to take you to that bird group, e.g. Honeyeaters, which is going to get you closer to the species than the contents. This quick reference looks like it’s laid out for a phone screen, so there’s a lot of wasted space on an iPad. I got around the pagination problem by switching to Scroll mode. When you can scroll continuously throught the material, the matching of headings and pictures is more obvious. You enable this mode by clicking on the AA symbol at the top, then on Themes. The species maps (which I think are new in the most recent edition of the full book) would be good, but at least in a regional guide you have a bit of an idea where they should occur. It’s interesting to compare the concept of an electronic book with a printed book. I only own a licence for Apple devices, so one day I probably won’t have access to it anymore, whereas with a real book I have it forever. But it’s half the price, adds nothing to the weight of the device it’s on, and I get to use it on my phone and my iPad. Peter Shute =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
I’m also hanging out for the app! I hope we see it soon. I bought a couple of the regional guides today, but I haven’t had time to explore them much, except to get a bit of a shock when I noticed the pagination issue. At the default font size, many of the pages split in the middle of an article, leaving the sketch for a species on the top of a page, with the Header/Species name for the NEXT species beneath it. e.g. Page 397 has a very nicely drawn Malleefowl, and the text underneath says: AUSTRALIAN BRUSH-TURKEY and goes on with the latter’s description. It made me do a bit of a double-take! I haven’t found the species maps yet – I hope they are included. And the contents pages DO link to sections in the text. Hold a title (e.g. Waders) and release it after it highlights. The page will flip to the start of the Waders section. One nice feature is the capability of adding notes and bookmarks. Simply highlight a word or phrase, and choose NOTE from the popup menu. From what I can tell, the word will stay highlighted and have a small sticky note icon next to it, which you tap to view / edit the note. It’s a more user-friendly feature than the annotations available in the Morecombe app. I haven’t seen the print version of these books, but I guess the intention was to minimize the size for use in the field. That meant cutting out about 75% of the text for each species – and unfortunately, that was one of the things I felt always gave Pizzey’s guides the edge over the others – the quality and wealth of information in the text. I’m a little disappointed that the eBook version didn’t restore the full text from the whole field guide. Let’s hope the full text is available in the app – along with maps, and of course calls. Russell Woodford Ocean Grove On 15 October 2013 14:53, Clive Nealon < terathopius@aim.com> wrote: =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================
Talking of Pizzey and Knight I would be much more interested in the availability of the Pizzey and Knight Birds of Australia iPhone Edition. Has anybody got any information on this? My inquiries to Gibbons Multimedia have so far been ignored. Regards, Clive. —–Original Message—– Cc: Birding-Aus Aus < birding-aus@vicnet.net.au> Sent: Tue, Oct 15, 2013 2:56 am These books have been released today for iBooks for iPads, iPhones, and I assume iPods. I’ve purchased the Mallee to Limestone Coast volume ($14). As pointed out to me when Carl first started this thread, they’re books, not apps. No sounds, no smart search, etc. I assume that this electronic version is laid out in similar fashion to the paper version. Unlike the full Pizzey and Knight, the text is intermingled with the pictures, and there’s far less of it. The index has a warning that because the electronic version has different pagination, you’re better off doing a search rather than trying to use the index. That makes sense because you can adjust the font size in iBooks, which changes all the page numbering. It would have been nice to be able to tap on a name in the index and go to the page, but you can’t. You can however tap and hold to highlight the word, then choose Search to save typing it. That doesn’t necessarily work when the index separates the parts of the names. E.g. There’s a heading for Tern, with Little on a separate line, so searching for just “little” isn’t going to get you far. The changed pagination means some birds are split across two pages. I changed the font to the smallest, and the layout to scrolling, and that makes it easier to get the bird concerned onto one screen. iBooks let’s you scroll though the pages, but you only see the chapter name and page number until you stop scrolling, so finding stuff isn’t going to be as easy as flipping book pages, but you can add book marks and highlighting. I bought it intending to use it on my ipad, and it has appeared automatically on my phone as well. It looks surprisingly usable there, I thought it would be just too small. I haven’t looked at the text much yet, but the pictures look the same as my full copy. I’m interested to hear others’ comments if they’ve bought it. Peter Shute Sent from my iPad released. Has anyone had a chance to have a look at any? =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org =============================== =============================== To unsubscribe from this mailing list, send the message: unsubscribe (in the body of the message, with no Subject line) http://birding-aus.org ===============================