Tallahassee Democrat 12+

Really good so far

I like that this app gives me more ways to read the news and choose what’s important to me. I was thinking about ending my subscription this year but this is a easy way for me to access the entire newspaper and makes me want to stay subscribed.

There was one moment where my reading was interrupted by an advert that forcibly closes the article to pop up. Adverts are necessary, but should be quietly hanging on the end of articles, not interrupting the user and blocking access. I would also prefer adverts for local businesses instead of random webcomics or other online ads.

This app will also provide the advantages of online news with being up to date and knowing about breaking news as it happens, but still be able to access the full content of each issue instead of just select stories like in the newsletter.

Can this app be any worse?

I’ve never used an app as atrocious as USA Today’s Tallahassee Democrat app. Initially, I was excited to learn I could use it to read past editions of the Democrat as well as USA Today’s papers from across the country. Now, I cannot access the papers from any state save Florida. Additionally, when using the app for the Democrat (as well as other Florida papers) the app gets “klunky.” I can tap to move from story to another only to have the app not change to the new story. When I tap again, it will show an enlarged version of the new story and it takes another tap to reduce the size; often with the tap taking me back to the first story. Often, I can tap on a new story and it won’t even bring up the new story, or any other story on that page. It’s pretty clear a the folks at Gannett aren’t experts at app development, and as journalists I would not expect them to be. But I would expect those on the business side to have a better handle on choosing an app, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, either. Whoever the developer is that sold Gannett on this app clearly didn’t know what they were doing, either…

I miss the actual view of a day’s print Democrat!

You once could get your coffee, your iPad and leaf through the replica of each day’s TD. Page by page, section by section…but no more. The old format made it easy to access other Gannett pubs across the nation…no more. I pay a small fortune each month for getting FOUR HOME DELIVERED NEWSPAPERS a week (I chose no Monday or Tuesday., you zapped Saturday). All you need are pirate bandannas, masks, a long, thin mustaches and sabres to complete the image your business portrays. This app is pathetic, geared to your ad $$$$ and useless to a reader. Just reproduce the damned paper and I’ll wade through your bias and woke blather to glean a few nuggets of truth and reality on my own.

Developer Response ,

Please update to the latest version of this app 7.3.2 that includes the printed edition replica. Thank you.