Update 1.3.2 of Paper Pile fixed a connection bug and introduced a little error which caused the app to set all article release dates to January 1st, 1970 which of course messed up the page layout. Luckily, I could fix this without creating an app update. So have fun with it now.
Apple just approved Paper Pile’s update to version 1.3.2. Running on iOS 4.2 the app crashes when trying to fetch new stories. This update fixes the issue.
During the next weeks, Paper Pile will get a new feed fetching core which is incredible fast. It will debut as part of the next News Wall update in a few days.
After updating your iPad to iOS 4.2 you’ll notice that Paper Pile crashes when updating feeds. This happens because of a bug at the XML-RPC framework the app uses. I’ll fix this and submit the update to Apple as soon as possible. I apologize for the time you cannot use Paper Pile.
Due to some DNS troubles both the website and the backend of Paper Pile and News Wall for iPad & iPhone have been unreachable for some hours. The error is fixed now. I apologize for the time the apps have not been usable.
The Domain Name System is responsible for IP address / hostname translations. When the app tries to contact the backend it connects to the host danielkbx.com. A DNS server translates the name “danielkbx.com” to the IP address 188.40.86.71. Without a working DNS service the app cannot resolve the IP address and therefore a connection is not possible.
Apple just approved Paper Pile’s update 1.3. With the focus on stability and interface optimizations it should solve most issues users where reporting. You can see screenshots of this version here.
Most suggestions I received have been integrated. Instapaper support, better full story views and “more images” are just a few of them.
Please feel free to send me your opinion about it.
I just submitted update 1.3 to Apple’s review team. Increasing just the minor version number is kinda understated since there are so many changes and new features. Let me introduce at least some of them.
First, I changed the app’s icon. One user mentioned the old icon might put the idea of a comic style in your mind. And he is right. Dave Day played a bit and came up with a great idea which I used to create the new icon. Dave, thank you. I changed startup images as well so they fit into the new style.
On the subject of style: Paper Pile produces its pages in three different styles called traditional, modern and magazine. I reckon there is no need to explain them in detail – enjoy the screenshots:
Update 1.3 showing page in traditional style
Update 1.3 showing page in magazine style
Maybe you noticed the little gray bar at the top of the screen. This part of the overview part called Dashboard now is always visible. This way you always have access to the refresh button and to the settings view. While refreshing you are now able to cancel the request. Once data was received a progress bar indicates the time until data processing and image downloading will be finished.
When you tap on an article the new article view will appear presenting you the content of the article as simple text, original feed content text and website. You can share the article per mail or send it to Instapaper for later reading. This feature was the most requested
Update 1.3 showing full text
The most important change, however, is the concept pages are displayed and managed. The pages are not arranged side by side anymore. There is only one page at a time which reduces memory consumption dramatically. Swiping to the left shows you older articles in the same section, swiping to the right newer articles. There are areas at the top of each page showing you the previous and next section. You just need to tap on these the jump to the section. Double-tapping on the left/right border works as well.
Besides these explained changed hundreds of little changes and bug fixes are included. So if the problems you experienced are now solved, please update your rating at the App Store. The user’s manual page will get updated once the update was approved by Apple.
I like to thank my testers which did a really great job spending hours reviewing more than 20 builds. So, Dave Day, Lukas, Ingo, Charles, Renaud and all the guys from ipadteam.de, thumbs up!
Feel free to comment these features or suggestions.
Today, Paper Pile exceeded 1000 known feeds. In other words, since Paper Pile is available more than 1000 different feeds have been requested. Some other facts:
Hopefully, you all have fun with your iPad and Paper Pile.
Some users complain about the fact that Paper Pile shortens article texts so they need to open the web view to read the full version.
Firstly, they’re right. It is annoying having to tap, count to 3, tap on “Open…”, wait until the website has loaded.
That’s why the next update introduces a full text view activated just by tapping on the article. You than will have the choice to load the website.
Secondly, there is, somehow, no way other than cut the stories short if necessary. A newspaper’s layout highly depends on filled areas. It just does not look like a newspaper if there are to many emtpy spaces hanging around. To proof my word, I’ll show you a screenshot of the full text articles when using a very famous feed. Most feeds publish their news this way.
Feel free to suggest different way about dealing with these things. I appreciate every single hint.
After fixing a backend bug the review at padvance.com has been updated. Paper Pile’s rating changed to “Good”. Grant, thank you again for pointing me to this wired layout error.
Grant Holzhauser wrote a review about Paper Pile at padvance.com. It’s does not rate the app very good, I grant, but Grant mentions a bad bug that makes article texts get rendered strange. I focused on this and fixed it. Now the good news, you do not need to update the app.
To enjoy the new handling you simply need to refresh your pages. If the pages do not get re-created (because there are no new articles) please restart the app.