posted on August 14, 2011 by James Bruce
First off â€" apologies. We’ve had some issues over the last few months figuring out how to make our amazing and ever expanding selection of free guides available to iPhone, iPad and Android users. Until now, due to technical difficulties in the way we offer downloads, you had to first download on a desktop, then import the PDF into your device and finally synchronize.
Now you can easily download and view our entire selection of MakeUseOf PDF Guides right there on your smartphones and iPad, without any hassle!
iPad and iPhoneUpon accessing the downloads page, you’ll be presented with all the newest guides in chronological order, with a helpful preview image and a paragraph about the content. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to view more entries from the archives too â€" as of now our entire back catalog is available to mobile users (including my own magical iPad guide, if you’re interested).
There’s also a great search facility now if you’re looking for something specific. This truly is a fantastic way to view and save our guides, so I’m sure you’ll appreciate it!
Click through to the guide you’d like, and the download link for your device will be at the top in red. Unlike downloading on the desktop, we’ve made it so that you don’t need a password (which you can get by simply subscribing to our email newsletter, by the way) â€" but this may change in the future.
Note: please only use the red link at the top, do not use the “download it now†links in the rest of the page as these are designed for desktop users.
Give it a while to download â€" especially on a slow 3G connection â€" but it should show up right there in your browser if you’re using Safari. For iPhone and iPad users, you are then free to add the book to your iBooks â€" just give it a single tap and click the Open in iBooks button to add it to your device’s storage:
The PDF guide will then be permanently available in your iBooks shelf and will synchronize with any other devices you own through iTunes, so you can keep reading on your other iPad or iPhone.
Note: If you’re having trouble finding it, remember that PDFs are stored on their own separate book shelf for iBook purchases. There should be a button labelled PDFs at the top of your book shelf.
On the iPhone, the interface is basically identical but with no sidebar.
Android MobilesThough the look and feel is the same for Android devices, you need an additional app to view PDF files. Our resident Android expert, Erez, recommends Adobe’s own PDF Reader to handle them, but I must say it’s a shame this isn’t built into the browser. Other users report that some office suites come with PDF readers, and ezPDF appears to be another popular choice.
I’m sorry it’s taken so long to make these available for mobile use, and thank you to all those who have contacted us in the past few months to report errors and issues. Please know that your views are heard, and that if you ever contact myself or any other member of the editorial team with comments, suggestions and errors, we do consider everything seriously and very often make changes acting upon your feedback.
Don’t forget, we also have a lively tech support community here with editors, writers, and readers alike all on hand to answer your nagging technical issues.
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed | Amazon Plugin | Settlement Statement | WordPress Tutorials
.png "English"){kind=small}
