Today EasyReader - Not so easy at Deadpoet’s Cave

Today has to be commended for providing readers with so many ways to access their newspaper.

There’s the physical copy, available from MRT stations in the morning, and 7-Eleven and Cheers outlets in the afternoon.

If you can’t get those, there’s a $10/month subscription. Get the paper delivered to your doorstep every morning. (They claim the money is entirely for delivery.)

They also provide two online versions - text only as well as a full PDF version. It’s really nice to be able to see the whole newspaper as it appears, context, photos, advertisements and all.

Besides the full content, you can get headlines via email or RSS.

And all these for free!

Now, there is one more way to access the paper online: EasyReader.

While this is to be commended, it leaves a bit to be desired. (It’s beta, but I’ve tried lots of beta software which is a lot more stable.) I won’t go into the download and installation woes I experienced on the first day it was announced, since they’ve apparently been solved.

The good: It provides all the articles with colour photos, no ads included. It loads fast too.

The bad: The first issue is formatting. As you can see from the screenshot at the top, the words of the article are both above and below the photo. Just a tad difficult to read. Increasing the font size doesn’t help.

There also seems to be a bug. If you minimize EasyReader, it becomes a tray icon. If you try to maximise it, you get this:

It happens every time I do it, so it’s definitely a bug.

Last problem: there’s no Mac version. *growl*

Finally, something that is not good or bad. I wonder what the notes function does. I created a note on the page. Will I have access to it in the future? How do I keep track of the notes I’ve written? Can I share the note and the relevant article with others? Now, that would be really sweet.

Providing a free copy and providing unfettered access to the paper online are probably the key reasons behind Today’s high readership, second only to ST. That and the fact that their journalists are as good, if not better, than those at SPH.

It’s early days yet, but I appreciate all the ways that I can read Today. EasyReader, I’m sure, will improve over time and close the gap to ST’s readership. Just don’t get rid of the PDF version!