Monday 14 October 2013

'im again, on downloading

Once again I'm hosting a guest blog. And once again, the guest is me (in a context that probably doesn't get as many hits as this). I posted it on my Amazon author page a couple of weeks ago.

Not before time, I've had a go at downloading. I did it from a clean machine (with no previous knowledge of anything that might give me a silent short-cut), and set up a new Amazon account (using an alias that has an email address [which, come to think of it, may break some rule or other... Oh well...]).

I did it on a Windows machine, but there are options for iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Here's what I did:

1 I went to the #WVGTbook page and clicked on the Add to Cart button.
1 (result) a window appeared with the message 'We did not find a Kindle device'. Of the four optio[n]s, I clicked on the Kindle for Windows one.
Then an installer window appeared. Following the instructions ...

2 I clicked 'Run
2 (result) It did the usual Windows thing of asking 'Do you want to run...?'

3 I clicked on the 'Yes stupid, are you deaf or something?' option (well, that's what it felt like; I think the actual option was 'Yes')
<rant apple_user="gloat">
I do see the point of this nagging request for confirmation: people make mistakes, and should be given a chance to change their mind. But people like me always click through it unthinkingly. Whenever I want to find something in the Windows Recycle Bin I remember (too late) that I have found (and always use) the keyboard shortcut that lets me bypass the Recycle Bin and consign things automatically to perpetual oblivion. Even, when I forget to use it, I hit the Cancel button with the sometimes audible retort 'No I don't want to "...send it to the Recycle Bin". I want it terminated with extreme prejuduce. Just do what you're bloody told'
 
I know that shortcut, but I  shan't  tell you it, because I wish I could unknow it. So although the nagging request for confirmation makes sense it's guaranteed not to work; which reduces it to a waste of time (accompanied  by the infuriating feeling that the Infernal Machine – that's IM rather than PC – is saying 'I know better than you, and I know you're not going to take a blind bit of notice but I'm going to waste your time anyway').

</rant>
3 (result) After a download (about 5 minutes for me, over the famed Tesco InfraSlow 'Broad'Band - but YMMV) the Kindle Setup window appeared.

4 I clicked on the 'Shop in Kindle Store' button
4 (result) the usual search screen appeared, and I searched for 'When Vowels Get Together['].
It appeared.

5 I clicked on 'Add to Cart' again.
5 (result) A form appeared asking me to register my Kindle device.
There were the usual details to supply, but I wasn't too punctilious about [t]his bit.
After I'd registered, it asked 'Do you want to go to Kindle Device?'

6 I clicked 'Yes stupid. You really ought to get your hearing checked.'
6 (result) My 'library' (one book) appeared.

7 I clicked on it, and it opened.

8 At the foot of the page, there was a dashboard. I think it was one of these 'mouse-over' jobs that doesn't appear until you start scrabbling the mouse about desperately [thinking 'I know it's here somewhere].

9 I clicked on 'Aa' (which gives you the Options menu) [This.is one of the most counter-intuitive bits of User Interface (or UI, as we used to say in the trade) I've ever seen; and I've seen some doozies]

10 On the Options menu, I dragged the page-width slider as far to the right as it would go. (This isn't essential, but it's more convenient that way.)

That's it - a bit fiddly, first time round; but in future it'll be a breeze, as they say. When you click on an external link, it fires up your Browser. (I wonder what happens on a real Kindle...?)

b

Update 2013.10.14.16:05 – Added rant.

Update 2013.10.10.15.12:40 – A few tweaks.


 Mammon (When Vowels Get Together V4.1: Collection of Kindle word-lists grouping different pronunciations of vowel-pairs – AA-AU, EA-EU,   IA-IU, OA-OU, and – new for V4.1 – UA-UE.  If you buy it, contact  @WVGTbook on Twitter and I'll alert you to free downloads of the forthcoming volumes; or click the Following button at the foot of this page.)
And if you have no objection to such promiscuity, Like this.

Freebies (Teaching resources: nearly 32,400 views**,  and  4,400 downloads to date. They're very eclectic - mostly EFL and MFL, but one of the most popular is from KS4 History, dating from my PGCE, with 1570 views/700 downloads to date. So it's worth having a browse.)

** This figure includes the count of views for a single resource held in an account that I accidentally created many years ago.












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