We're just in the beginning stages of receiving the journal of the preserved railway where I volunteer in electronic format. What is being done there, and I suspect with The Lace Guild as well, is that the electronic pdf file that is sent to the printers is also the file that is being sent out to members by email. This is most likely the cheapest and simplest way of doing things, for those charitable organisations (like the railway and the Guild) that don't have funding to get an outside specialist company involved. With the railway's journal, being a pdf it gives me the option of using the up/down arrows to move to previous/next page, and typing the page number I want in the box, plus scrolling down (which isn't a great hardship!). The contents page at the start tells me which page I need for a specific article. Also, if I want to look for pieces about, say, a particular loco, I can use the control-f function (keyboard command for "find" - I'm using a Windows 10 laptop and! Adobe Acrobat Reader) to bring up a search box, into which I can type key words.
Production of an "all bells and whistles" version would substantially increase the production cost, and would likely require those subscribing to pay more rather than less for their electronic magazine - which would defeat the object of trying to gain overseas members by making it affordable for them to subscribe to (the postal costs for paper copies make them anything but). Do remember that the newstand magazines that have electronic versions with all the navigation options have much larger circulation figures than our specialist magazines, and so have a much greater income to afford the staff and technology required. I'm not sure what the exchange rate is at the moment, but from the figures Susan quotes for the various subscriptions electronic membership of The Lace Guild, at £20.00 (GBP) per year, sounds like a bargain! However, for the magazines to continue in either format, the editors are (usually) dependent on members sending in patterns (for any type of lace, not just bobbin lace) and articles for publication, and the patterns submitted don't have to be as complicated as Miss Channer's mat - one of the reasons I started subscribing to the Canadian Lacemaker Gazette when I was teaching was that their patterns were frequently easy enough for a relative beginner to attempt, and being an affordable subscription, it was a lace publication I could recommend to my students. So many times you hear someone say their reason for not joining the Guild, or submitting a pattern (of their own design) is "I'm not good enough" - which in many cases certainly isn't true. Having patterns for beginners in the magazines is as important as having the more challenging ones for those of us who have been making lace for years, and even more so, if we are to encourage new lacemakers to subscribe in the first pl! ace! Jane Partridge ________________________________________ From: owner-l...@arachne.com <owner-l...@arachne.com> on behalf of Susan <hottl...@neo.rr.com> In spite of Prabha’s heroic efforts to provide multiple screen shots, various tutorials, I found my navigation limited to scrolling or typing a page number in the menu bar. The thumbnails she described were nowhere to be found with the hardware/software that I am using. After lots of pointing clicking no progress, I decided it is what it is. To be fair, my navigation was limited to scrolling (only) when I accessed the digital version of Lace (Lace Guild UK magazine) so apparently this is not an isolated issue with online publishing of this type. Technology has provided us with this new digital option so let’s use it to our advantage see whether more improvements are forthcoming. Best Wishes to everyone heading to San Antonio for the convention. Have a great time! Sincerely, Susan Hottle USA - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
