WSJ Print Edition

I’ve been a loyal reader of the WSJ since my MBA Economics professor made it required reading over 25 years ago. We were even tested to ensure we knew where in the paper information appeared and on which day certain columns ran. I have had a combination digital and print subscription for years. But, I’ve never really liked the digital version. You see, the way the print edition is formatted - the size of a headline font, the location (above or below the fold), even how many columns are devoted to a story - provides key information about the significance of the article in the eyes of the editors. And, I like to see who is running advertisements in the print edition. I thought it was a significant improvement recently when I signed up for the email that provided the pdf version of the print edition. And now the Print Edition app! Apparently, I wasn’t the only person that craved the print edition as an app. Thank you for listening to those of us that prefer the format of the print edition with the obvious benefits of digital delivery (especially when traveling to locations where finding a print edition is very difficult - I’m looking at you Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada).

This is written by someone who has had a morning newspaper on his breakfast table for nearly 60 years and whose experience with e-editions has ranged from disappointed to disgusted. I not only missed the “feel” of the real thing, but I found them to be user-unfriendly and difficult to “flip through,” as I like to do. Then came the Journal’s version and I was, if not converted, pleased that it gave me the options I needed to feel at home with an e-edition newspaper. It’s layout seems infinitely adjustable to the reader’s needs, and combines the ability to see the entire page in one window with the ability to focus in on a single article. It is user-friendly and offers the reader access to the entire print addition, advertisements, Pepper & Salt, and all! We still have the print edition delivered to the house, but now my wife and I can read the Journal at the same time and even tell each other to look at page whatever for a good article. May “real” print editions live forever, but the Journal’s e-edition comes as close to the real thing as you can get. We’ll done, WSJ!

I was one of those who loved reading an actual paper but I switched to reading the WSJ this way and love it. I did it to eliminate the visual clutter of messy newspapers laying around my home. I bought a 12.9” iPad for it on the recommendation of other reviewers, and it seems a perfect pairing. The app is very well thought out and easy to use. I can enlarge anything so I can read it without needing glasses. I can continue an article to ‘inside’ pages with just a touch. I can quickly link to the more in-depth options I never bothered with before, and I now see I’ve missed a lot. One thing I would like to see: Maybe there is a setting I don’t know about to remedy this, but I wish it showed more than just one week of past issues in the ‘issues’ tab. I also wish I could find past articles by entering just a topic and having past articles which include that topic to be listed. Readers can’t be expected to remember the full title of an article. Again, maybe that capability is already there and I just haven’t found it.