A closer look at Classics.app

A Screenshot of Classics

“[Classics](http://www.classicsapp.com/)” is a great product, it shows us iPhone developers what an *elegant* ebook reader can be, so I bought it almost instantly after it’s released. I’ve been chatting with my friends about this app for a while, now I’d like to give a more closer examination to it from the perspective of a typographer and a programmer. Especially its weaknesses.

Illustrated by my favorite graphic designer, [David Lanham](http://dlanham.com), Classics tries its best to provide a traditional book reading experience (that’s why it’s called “Classics”). It contains the following books, even I’ve read most of them in Chinese long time ago, thanks to Classics, it’s still a fascinating experience to read them again in English:

* *[20,000 Leagues Under the Sea](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty_Thousand_Leagues_Under_the_Sea)* by [Jules Verne](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_Verne)
* *[A Christmas Carol](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Carol)* by [Charles Dickens](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens) [Added in version 1.1]
* *[Alice in Wonderland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_in_Wonderland)* by [Lewis Carroll](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll)
* *[Flatland](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatland)* by [Edwin Abbott Abbott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Abbott_Abbott)
* *[Gulliver’s Travels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulliver%27s_Travels)* by [Jonathan Swift](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift)
* *[The Hound of the Baskervilles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hound_of_the_Baskervilles)* by Sir [Arthur Conan Doyle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle)
* *[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adventures_of_Huckleberry_Finn)* by [Mark Twain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Twain)
* *[Paradise Lost](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost)* by [John Milton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Milton)
* *[Robinson Crusoe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe)* by [Daniel Defoe](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Defoe)
* *[The Call of the Wild](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Call_Of_The_Wild)* by [Jack London](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_London)
* *[The Jungle Book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle_Book)* by [Rudyard Kipling](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling)
* *[The Metamorphosis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Metamorphosis)* by [Franz Kafka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka)
* *[The Time Machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Time_Machine)* by [H. G. Wells](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells)

However, there are still some details to be improved.
Continue reading “A closer look at Classics.app”

links for 2008-11-29

网站恢复

[网站](http://jjgod.org) 和这个 blog 挂掉了一个多月,其间有很多朋友关心问及出了什么问题,其实一开始是联系不到原来 host 这个网站的管理员,后来是我干脆懒得重新搭一遍。

这两天得空,把这摊子重新收捡了一番,变成现在这样。

保留的数据有从这个 blog 设立到今年 8 月的所有文章和回复。今年六月到现在的所有文章 (从我的 RSS 记录中恢复的)。

丢失的数据有所有原来放在 jjgod.org/ 下的共享文档和程序,这些数据没法找回了,不过大部分我还有备份,会视需要重新上传。

原来网站所有的附件文件都丢失了,所以现在 blog 上大部分图片都看不到。

看吧,这就是不认真备份的下场。