Washington Post Print Edition Reviews

Not bad for reading articles. But trying to do the crossword is incredibly frustrating.

I am forced to watch a 17 second ad before I can access the crossword (despite the fact that I’m a paid digital subscriber and am signed in), then when I click to get Friday’s puzzle, it loads the one from Thursday. That’s ok; I don’t mind working that one. I work on it for a while, go to supper, come back and work it some more, watch some tv, do some more crossword, then go to bed. Each time I went back to the ap after being away for a while, the crossword was there right where I’d left off. The timer had even stopped while I was away. Pretty nice, I thought.

Next day, when I go back to try to finish it, I click on “Thursday” but it gives me Wednesday’s puzzle (after making me watch a 17 second ad). So, I think I’ve figured this out... I go back and click “Friday” in order to get Thursday’s puzzle (it works!). But first I’m forced to watch the same 17 second ad for a 3rd time (again, I am a PAID, signed-in subscriber), and finally Thursday’s puzzle comes up... but it’s blank! My partially completed puzzle is now apparently lost.

Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but it shouldn’t be this hard.

When it works WashingtonPostPrintEdition provides a great digital version of the paper. Unfortunately it constantly fails to load properly. When it does load, the content frequently responds erratically and unpredictably. They do propagate updates fairly frequently but underlying vulnerabilities remain completely untouched. When they are having problems they do nothing to inform their users (e.g. a brief email or text message that the server is out of commission or there's a problem with data and when to expect resolution.) If you submit a trouble ticket message you get an automated response and then an anodyne 'sorry, we're having problems, try later' message. Needless to say there's never any refund of subscription fees when you can't read the day's paper until days later.

I loving having access to the print edition of the Post in this format — being able to read the WP as a paper newspaper on my iPad is far-and-away my preference.

What I’d actually like to do — and what WashingtonPostPrintEdition seems designed to let me do — is *navigate* the WP like a paper newspaper, but read the articles themselves as if I’d clicked on them from within the digital app. But when you open an article that way as a subscriber from within the print app, there’s an unnecessary and entirely distracting banner ad permanently fixed on the bottom of the screen: THANK YOU FOR READING THE WASHINGTON POST. (It’s where an actual ad would go if I wasn’t a subscriber.)

When you read articles online, or from within the digital app, there’s no distracting banner like that.

This is such an awful design that I spent two weeks going back and forth with WP’s tech support, who assumed that the banner was supposed to disappear when subscribers are logged in — two weeks of IP trying to get the banner to disappear (they assumed the print app wasn’t recognizing that I was logged in) before they realized it’s just an terribly designed reading experience.

Please fix it.

I have been a morning reader of the paper for decades, and transitioned to reading WAPO on my iPad almost a decade ago. WashingtonPostPrintEdition has gotten better over time and the experience is very good, with one GLARING exception. As the post has integrated WashingtonPostPrintEdition with their online sources there are times when there is a terrific interconnection, but increasingly clicking on an interesting headline in WashingtonPostPrintEdition (often in news Digests) the content rolls over to a completely unrelated set of articles. After several attempts of clicking around I have to go back to WashingtonPostPrintEdition and use my fingers to expand the type to a readable size to see the news that caught my eye. Often in this process a finger tap will start the roll to online again. So it can take several attempts to read what I wanted to read. That is just not right.

I like WashingtonPostPrintEdition much better than the other two Washington Post apps. I think WashingtonPostPrintEdition would be even better if the following improvements are made:

- Do not zoom out easily. When I read articles on my iPad, I usually zoom in to show only two columns in portrait mode. However, WashingtonPostPrintEdition zooms out to show whole page when I tap somewhere or when I come back to WashingtonPostPrintEdition after using other apps. I wish WashingtonPostPrintEdition did not automatically zoom out.

- Do not jump to non-print edition of articles easily. I like WashingtonPostPrintEdition because I like print edition, obviously, but app takes me to non-print edition when I tap text. I wish the link to the non-print edition was embedded only in, e.g., the title of the article.

- Do not a flip page easily. When I zoom in to show only two columns and swipe to show the next two columns, WashingtonPostPrintEdition sometimes flip the page. I would like to flip a page only when I swipe near the right end of the page.

- Add capability to use dictionary. I sometimes want to use a dictionary while reading articles, so it would be helpful if I could select a word to use a dictionary, like we can in, e.g., the Safari app.

So I don’t want to change the star rating, because this is truly a GREAT app. Wish NY TImes and Wall Street Journal would get onboard already, jeez. But there is some room for improvement. For example, if my screen times out for any reason (naps over the Sunday paper, snack breaks,etc.) I lose my place where I was reading, and I’m taken back to the Home Screen. A little annoying to have to flip back through sections... I read the paper how I read a book, just straight through, so I’m not always mindful of what page or section I left off on. Also, the tap to enter web content feature is TOO sensitive. Annoyingly so. A lot of the time that I try to swipe to turn the page, I’m redirected to the ask if I want to open the webpage, or just taken straight there. That honestly does disrupt by flow quite a bit. Would be better if there was one link per page to go to the webpage, instead of making the whole page a link. This also happens when I try to zoom in on text or images.

On so much of what trump does as president that is dishonest and troubling for the highest public servant of our country. Please speak to other professional journalist. Instead of judging Mueller we are supppse to be Evaluating Whether trump did illegal behavior that meets impeachable offenses. If GOP were willing to impeach over lying about sex with an intern surely trump repeatly intentionally trying to impede a federal investigation, Campaign finance fraud, and his campaign accepting stolen emails by a foreign government is impeachable. Shame those public servants who swore to protect the country. Also report on what has been done to shore up problems with our elections over the past 2 and 1/2 years . If nothing done all responsible should be voted out.
Thank you for all the hard work you all do to bring facts to light.
Beth Smith

The journalism and coverage is very good, but I have been reading the publication on an iPad and an iPhone and find that functions such as page turning and zooming frequently go awry on both platforms. Pages may turn when I intend to zoom in, a section often closes when I mean to turn a page, or the fuller version of an article opens when I’m merely trying to scroll within the print edition. Most frustrating is that often, when I am scrolling within an article, WashingtonPostPrintEdition interprets intention to scroll as a command to zoom out; thus, I constantly find myself having to resize the text, which is quite annoying and distracting. Isn’t there a way to make these features behave more deliberately?

In my late 70’s and lIterally a lifelong subscriber to the New York Times (across the country) I recently subscribed to the Washington Post for my wife. I do not rate the content. I cannot favor the brother over the sister. Much to my surprise, however, I am finding the Post is leagues ahead, at least for now, in digital design and app format and ease of use. It’s not my field (law was). In another century in the pre-Facebook Internet I knew, used and understood much of the leading edge. Not now. My comments about “design” and “app format” are genuine but are grounded in my current experience of “ease of use” — about which I am still fully competent to testify
Bill Cook New Orleans La

Whether you like the content or not, the Post is the best enewspaper. It gives you an authentic page turning experience of each edition (a feature sorely missed in WSJ and NYT), ease in reading articles as if in print by enlarging on screen or opening, and my favorite +++ the ability to easily share links (via text, email, or social media) that give others the ability to read the full article. This last one seems a no brainer function (but is annoyingly unavailable on USATODAY) that lets me share noteworthy articles with friends and colleagues for discussion and information.

Took advantage of the $9.99 6 month trial subscription offer. Have been using since beginning of January. App works perfectly and allows me to keep up with important legit national and international news. So far, very happy. Intend to renew to the electronic annual subscription when the trial period is up. Think the annual electronic subscription is about $150

To get the cheap six month trial you need to free subscribe to the e-mail daily briefing first.

I do like the ability to select which sections download, I.e. I don't download sports or D.C. ad inserts. You do see all sections, those chosen do not download but are visible, so if you decide to read you just click on the cloud and that sections is available.

Do suggest that you use both the print app AND web app. When reading from the print app. Clicking on the story switches apps. The web app can be visually easier to read.

Also do sign up for daily briefs to email. For through the days updates

This is one of the best apps for newspaper/mags. I give it four stars because I am sure there can be more improvements. I add a half star because the WP continues to improve WashingtonPostPrintEdition . Then I add another 1/2 to take the score to a full 5 because of those who complain because they have a slow computer, or no band width or don't like the Post reporting or just like to whine.

I particularly like that I can search by columnist or feature. My high preference is the print edition. I don't come here for breaking news during the day because I don't think that is their shtick. It may be.

Criminy, this is the Internet with its foibles and temperament. We are grading only WashingtonPostPrintEdition . Let's giv'em credit, a high five!

When I travel I look for higher speed times/places to download the paper so I'll have it when I have time to read. Switching from paper to digital is very difficult. Paper is comfortable. Slowly I am making the transition thanks to the WP.

I am grateful every day for the Post print edition app on my iPad. I still receive the paper at my home but on the road during vacations WashingtonPostPrintEdition satisfies the reading itch with adjustable font size and sharper pictures, including color for those only in black and white in the paper.

If I’m ever forced to give up the delivered paper once and for all, I’m ready! The first year or two of WashingtonPostPrintEdition had technical problems but I must say the current version is a worry free breeze. Thanks to Jeff Bezos, Fred Ryan, Marty Baron and the whole staff who do a fantastic job in trying circumstances.

Love having the paper at my fingertips. Scrolling the articles is made easy by their function of being able to convert it from newspaper size to a scrolling article. Only negative is the difficulty is getting the crossword puzzle to be usable often, it freezes in the conversion mode and often freezes when doing it on line. I prefer to not print it out everyday, defeats the purpose of being digital. Also it would be nice if sudoku and scrabble were able to be done on line and they can even be printed at this time.

I love the print addition of the WAPO. It’s like reading and browsing a regular paper on my iPad. I can see a whole page virtually at a glance, expand any article I want to read or if the article continues on another page, tap the title and the full uninterrupted article pops up. When I’ve finished the article I can easily return to the page I’ve left. I have online subscriptions to 2 other papers, nether of which are as user friendly, intuitive nor interesting to browse through. Thanks for a great morning read!