There is a new way to read the Guadalajara Reporter online: the “Virtual Print Edition”. It looks exactly like the paper version, and is a marvelous way to read the paper without having to leave home for a copy or to wait for delivery. My copy usually arrives on Sunday or Monday, but I can now read the Virtual Print Edition online Friday evening. Here’s how it works.
A short distance down the right side of the Guadalajara Reporter’s home page (www.guadalajarareporter.com), click on “Virtual Print Edition”, and then on “Click here for this week’s virtual print edition” on the next page. (You can also access previous editions.) You will need to login for access.
If you don’t already have a login, you can receive a free one-day subscription simply by registering. Click on “Register” at the top right corner of the page, which leads you to all of the subscription options, including the one-day free subscription. If you scroll to the bottom of the subscription list, there is also a “Snow Bird special” — a one-month subscription, available for 4 dollars. For a year, the cost is 30 dollars. All the mail and delivery subscribers also receive a free online subscription for the duration of their mail or delivery subscription.
Once you are logged in, the newspaper will have its own menu, which I am calling the “main menu”. To actually read the print, click anywhere on the newspaper to enlarge the page. You can scroll around the page by moving your mouse in the direction you want to go. But if a “click and drag” movement is more intuitive for you (as it is for me), click on the circle icon above the page, and then select the option “drag”. Now the page will sit still when you move the mouse, and you can move the page by clicking and dragging. To turn the page, click on the arrow bar on the right or left side of the page.
However, I find it easier to read the paper in what is called the “Paper View”. To get to this view, return to the main menu by clicking on the page to make the print small again. Click on the icon labeled “Layout”, and select the option “Paper View”, which will open a new window in which the paper takes up the entire screen. Now you can use the up and down arrows on your computer keyboard to read the newspaper just like a Word document or a pdf file.
Above the newspaper are several icons in a dark menu box. You can use these icons to perform various operations. Each of the four different page formats (Magazine View, Presentation View, Paper View and the Full Screen view) have their own icons and menus. I will explain the purpose of the icons in the main menu (the original page that comes up when you access the Virtual Paper Edition), and let you explore those other menus on your own. Hold your mouse cursor over an icon for a second or two, and a short explanation will appear.
The two arrows at the far left end of the menu box let you move from one page to another.
Clicking on the icon of four small boxes labeled “Index” brings up the entire newspaper in miniature. Select the page you want to view, and you are taken to it.
The next icon is four arrows pointing to the four corners, labeled “Full Screen”. Clicking on this fills your screen with the newspaper. Press the ESC (Escape) key at the top left corner of your computer keyboard to return to the main menu.
Following the Full Screen icon are two rectangles labeled “Layout”, which I mentioned above. Try each layout to determine which best suits your style.
The next icon is an envelope labeled “Share”, which only gives you a notice that you are not allowed to share this newspaper with others, this being a subscription-based service. It would be nice if that icon could email links to the Virtual Print Edition to other subscribers, but for now, that icon is extraneous.
The Search icon (a magnifying glass) opens a small area where you can type words you want to find in the present edition of the newspaper. Try typing the word “bit” into that box, and one of the results will be this article (provided you are viewing this edition of the newspaper). In the results window, you need to note which page you want and then type that number into the small box at the far right of the main menu. Clicking directly on a search result itself will only magnify the page you are viewing behind the search results.
Not all of the Search icons produce the same results. So if you can’t find what you want with the Search feature in the view you are presently using, return to the main menu and try there. The results seem to be more accurate from the main menu.
The final icon is to print one or more pages from the newspaper.
All in all, the Virtual Print Edition is a convenient, intuitive addition for the Guadalajara Reporter. It is useful whether you already have a print subscription and simply want to view the paper early, or if you want to bypass the paper edition altogether and go Virtual.
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