Reviewing Flipboard for Windows 8.1

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Your personal magazine. This is how the first headline that we find in Flipboard reads as soon as we open it in Windows 8.1. The reading application, content curation, or however you want to define its category, with the most popularity out there has been hard to come by, but since last week it has been available in the Windows Store. "

Go ahead, one is not very much in favor of this type of application to consume content. Still, it is worth taking a look and see what is special about Flipboard that seems to have convinced so many.If you've never quite gotten the hang of these apps but are willing to give them a second chance, try joining me on a tour of the innards of Flipboard for Windows 8.1

Accounts, accounts and more accounts

The first thing we need on Flipboard is an account. If we already have it, it is enough to log in with Facebook or enter our username and password in the service to recover the content that we have previously accumulated. If we don't have it, Flipboard lets us choose from a list of 20 categories to start with and then asks us to register, a step that we can do directly in the service with an email or through our Facebook account.

With the above it would be enough to consume content, but if we want to get the full potential of Flipboard and see how far it can go the best thing is to connect all those accounts we have in the different services that the application supports.To do this, we access the Discover tab, on whose side the Accounts section appears. From there we can add social networks like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Tumblr or LinkedIn; photo services like Flickr or 500px; and even websites to consume music and videos such as SoundCloud or YouTube.

In all of them we can link our accounts so that they begin to fill Flipboard with content. Once we have logged into the corresponding service, its box will become part of the cover of the application, helping to build a completely personalized magazine. Sounds good if you have he althy accounts and friends who can match what they share with you, but most of the time it's better to fend for yourself.

Fonts, fonts and more fonts

In the same Discover tab, Flipboard displays a varied list of categories with sources of all kinds, from blogs to specialized magazines, going through the online versions of the main newspapers.Not only that, Flipboard also carries out its own selection of news and groups them into one of its channels, separating them by theme.

From here on it is our decision to trust the good hand of the Flipboard team or dedicate ourselves to adding all those sources that we know or find interesting. The list of sources included in the application is quite assorted, but if we miss one we can always go to the search engine, enter its name there and subscribe to it as one more.

The application shows fonts in the system language by default, but we can access fonts from other areas and languages ​​from the Settings of the Charms bar. There we can edit the content guide by selecting among the local editions existing for different countries and territories.

Interface not fully Modern UI

Flipboard earned its fame thanks to the care taken by its creators in the design and presentation of the news. In Windows 8 they have tried to maintain that hallmark by bringing their own style to Modern UI. It's not a bad idea, given Flipboard's good taste, but some things end up being a little squeaky

The system of boxes used for the cover fits very well with the style of Windows, as well as the horizontal scroll navigation. To the latter they have added the characteristic effect of turning the page that, although beautiful and effective, is a bit out of place in Modern UI. It is not serious and it even becomes comfortable when reading the articles, but perhaps another more classic type of scrolling would work better when it comes to helping us navigate between sections and news.

Within the application we can access the menus by sliding a finger from the bottom or top of the screen or using the right mouse button. From there we can perform some of the main actions, such as anchoring content or sections to the home screen, adding or removing a subscription, or accessing our profile. Inside the sections or magazines, the top menu will display the sources that make it up and show us other popular or recommended ones.

In Flipboard we find ourselves on more than one occasion with a medley of news that is difficult to digest.

In each of the sections the presentation of the news allows us to see the headline, the source, the channel from which it comes and a small extract of text. Here the confusion arises from the very model of content aggregator that is Flipboard. Even trying to carefully maintain our selection of sources and accounts, on more than one occasion we find ourselves with a potpourri of news that is difficult to digest.

Trying to order the chaos

How to put some order between all these accounts, sources and news? On the one hand, there is the Flipboard algorithm, which serves us the news that it considers most interesting based on various criteria; on the other, everything shared by our contacts and the people we follow in the different linked networks; And finally, there is the possibility of build our own magazines or consult those that others have created

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The latter is perhaps the most interesting feature of Flipboard. Every time we see a news item, video or image, we can flip on it using the +> button"

The magazines can be private, but we also have the option of making them public, allowing others to access the content that we collect in an attractive and orderly manner Of course, we can also add the magazines that others have created to our sources.

And finally… the content

At this point some of you will wonder when we do what is important: read, listen or watch content. Actually, we can do it at any time, but the previous steps will help us to keep it organized and not to miss out on what really interests us. From here it is time to evaluate Flipboard as an application to consume content.

And here Flipboard doesn't quite go as smoothly as it should. Much of the problem has to do with how the service manages its relationship with the different sources and how this affects the presentation of the news Depending on the source or the channel through which the content reaches us, the application shows it to us in a version adapted to the environment or opens it directly to us in a kind of browser integrated into it.It works, but it's not a very elegant option.

As usual in this type of application, Flipboard also places great emphasis on sharing everything we find. When we open a piece of news, the lower menu shows the main buttons for it, which will be activated as we link network accounts such as Twitter, Facebook or Google+. We can also mark the news as favourites, warn of the presence of inappropriate content, or open the content in the browser.

Flipboard: more packaging than content

At first glance, Flipboard is as attractive as you'd expect. The way of displaying front pages, sections and news extracts is very careful and, although tedious, the process of linking accounts and selecting sources works. The problem comes when it's time to start enjoying the content, and that's where Flipboard doesn't quite convince me.

It's a matter of taste, but Flipboard doesn't seem to be a substitute for the simple but effective feed reader of a lifetime.

As confusing as it is for each piece of news to be presented differently, we must add the effort required to curate content yourself, either by selecting sources or creating content. journals. Leaving everything to the algorithm does not seem recommendable to me and it is easy for totally irrelevant things to slip in and others that could be of more interest to us.

It's not the first time I've tried Flipboard and I wanted to give it a try with its arrival in Windows 8.1, but every time I'm more convinced that it is not for me. Although it is surely a matter of taste, one prefers the simple cascade of headlines of traditional feed readers.

Download | Windows Store