Getting there, but a long way to go. – Macworld Digital Magazine U.S. Review

I share the frustration over downloading problems that others have noted, although the problem seems to have disappeared since the May issue. I really miss the early format of the electronic magazine where one could swipe up or down to go through an article, and right to left to move between articles. The new format: swipe right to left to move forward or back one page at a time is a step backwards. It is far less comfortable and is significantly less time-efficient. And, why can't we go directly to an article from the table of contents? With my printed copies, I could underline and tab pages so that it was easy to return to favorite articles for review. With the electronic version, bookmarking has been compromised. One can only bookmark and entire article. I have lost all of my bookmarks before May 2017, with the recent upgrades in readerware. In addition, there is no way to mark specific paragraphs within an article, or specific items within a list that are referenced under one bookmark. (Ideally, one should be able to highlight any choice of text.) The value of the magazine is dramatically diminished when one can't mark the portions that one would like to return to. My long-term confidence that any book marking at present will be maintained over the long term is also severely compromised. The electronic edition is yet to become a long-term searchable resource. The developer seem to treat it much more like a newspaper- once read each month it is then forgotten. Yet, for most users, it is a resource, and searchability is a significant function. Since searchability also enhances the encounters with advertisements, and hence the interest of advertisers, I am at a complete loss to understand why they fail to address this issue. And, what is the value to any subscriber of the destruction of previous bookmarks whenever a software upgrade is accomplished? It destroys any confidence of the reader that any personalization will be preserved long enough to justify the effort. And, without personalization the value of the subscription is significantly reduced. If given the choice, I would return to the print edition because of these missing features. Yet, everyone of them can be easily implemented in an electronic edition. Why doesn't Macworld Magazine (U.S.) recognize the advantages and attractiveness of doing so? They had a great magazine in the print version- it is a mistake to expect that the electronic edition will be valuable simply because it is digital. In the same way that features developed in the printed edition to facilitate readers use of the magazine enhanced its quality- and hence value, the electronic edition badly needs significantly more polish. Reducing the cost of publishing the magazine by eliminating postage and paper costs, while failing to match the functionality of the paper edition, is a result that is not invisible to the reader. Yet prices are not changed, and it appears that somehow the publisher thinks that profitability has been increased without diminishing the value to the buyer, even though they have not invested the effort to match the quality of the paper edition.
Review by AKRsr on Macworld Digital Magazine U.S..