Chris, Ryan and I have decided to begin production on a monthly PDF digest of the information on Particletree. Like our web site, it’ll attack three different aspects of web development: programming, design and business. This PDF magazine will be another form of syndication for Particletree except in addition to creating an easy to print remix compilation of the content on our web site, we’re also going to include top links of the month, guest interviews, extra tutorials, essays, columns, product/site reviews and critiques and whatever else we can think of that’ll make it THE Web 2.0 publication on the Internet.
We understand that this is a bit unorthodox (instead of starting with a print magazine and building a web site, we built a web site and then started a print magazine), but it makes sense to us now and we’re really excited about building this tangible and portable thing. Don’t worry, though, we’ll still be commited to the online version. We’re just adding extra flavor/convenience for those who want it.
We have a lot of details to work out still (like price and infrastructure and design and etc) and more information will be coming soon, but if you would like to contribute to the cause, send us your ideas, outlines, propositions, suggestions, propaganda to [submit AT particletree DOT com](mailto:submit AT particletree DOT com).
Note: This is being treated like any other professional publication in that you should expect an extensive revision and review process. Good ideas take a lot of time to flesh out and when it comes to writing tutorials/essays, people often forget how much preparation is required. We question everything and rarely do we pull punches. We’re a lot of fun to work with, but we’re also very serious about working hard. I hope that doesn’t discourage anyone from participating, but I don’t want anyone thinking that we’ll take anything you hand us. You’re probably going to be a better writer and developer by the end of the experience and I guarantee you’ll be proud of the end product.
I really like reading the content here (both here at particletree and via RSS) so I sincerely hope this doesn’t mean I’ll have to open PDF files to read all your content (because I likely won’t ;-).
I’ll bite my tongue about the irony of “THE Web 2.0 publiclication on the internet” being a PDF.
All the monthly content that you are used to seeing here on the site (and via RSS) will remain free and the same.
We have had quite a few requests for pdf versions, and we also feel it would be nice to wrap up everything of significance at the end of the month, so we are creating the pdf magazine. The magazine will have some additional sections that are not on the site, but we still remain dedicated to giving as much free content as we currently do.
Thank you for the feedback.
If it were $5 or less, I’d buy an issue (if it weren’t just 10 pages or something) straight off the bat. Higher than that, I’d start picking through the contents and working out if it’s worth it. Can’t speak for everyone, but that’s my “just get it” price point.
Dunno about design, but I love ChangeThis.com’s PDFs.. one of the few PDF layouts I’ve really found easy to read on screen.. but that was their whole idea.
Get your pricing correct and it will be a roaring sucess I’m sure, your content is very interesting.
Are there any lessons you can learn from Design In flight folding? It always seemed a little inexpensive to me. What you think?
I don’t know too much about the inner workings of design in flight. For a quarterly publication, it may have been too underpriced to be worth it. At the same time, this type of content requires a ton of work, and I do not know their personal schedules. Our features range from 10 to 30 hours of work, and the most trivial notebooks still take at least an hour and a half.
As far as our magazine is concerned, it’s safe to say it will be more than 10 pages, and we’ll do our best to price it accordingly. As we learn more, and the first edition is almost complete, we will pass more info on to you guys.
Anytime during the process we welcome suggestions, so feel free to email our personal accounts, or leave comments.