Hey thanks @eriktorenberg!
Longform has always been focused on making it easy for you to find something great to read without hassle. On Longform.org, we've been curating the best non-fiction from around the web for over four years, and a sizable audience has come to trust our Staff Picks.
With the new Longform app (which is FREE on iOS in September) we wanted to take the existing Staff Picks section and let people customize their information diet.
You can follow just about any publisher that puts out in-depth feature articles, but in addition (and I think we're the first service to do this) you can follow writers and get all their pieces regardless of where they appear. Everyone comes across great links (from Twitter, emailed from friends) but it's hard to know what to do AFTER you read something you love. We recommend following the writer, then we'll notify you the next time they publish.
Plus, you can get articles your friends recommend right alongside the publishers and writers you've chosen.
Our approach to design is "reader-first" and I think the app represents what we've learned over the last few years about what readers really want. When Longform started recommending articles, the iPad was brand new and Read Later services were just emerging. Readability/Pocket/Instapaper are great, but we noticed that the mere act of installing a bookmarklet excluded a huge portion of the audience. So we built a self-contained reading universe where great articles are waiting for you (everything is available offline) whenever you open the app: commute, flight, Sunday afternoon...
A pre-populated Pocket?
Flipboard for people who read?
Spotify for articles?
A client for the English language?
A Wikipedia-like archive of high-quality journalism on every topic under the sun?
There are a lot of cool places this can go, but basically: if you'd like to read more smart stuff, download the beta and let us know what you think. (I'm aaron@longform.org)
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@aaronlammer Thanks for the early access, Aaron! I've already spent some time in the app (getting a lot of actual work done this morning, clearly) and I've already moved it to my home screen. I've needed a place I can go for a solid reading fix throughout the day/week. I like "Spotify for articles." :)
@stttories Fantastic. Yeah, we looked a lot at stuff like Spotify/Rdio and Hulu+/HBO GO when were designing the app and wanted to convey a similar sense of comprehensiveness.
If you spend the 20 minutes following stuff you're interested, you should have a planes worth of reading material any moment you choose.
Longtime reader, first time caller? The longform website, podcast, iPad app are all part of my media diet. I'm excited to have this on my phone as well, especially since I never quite figured out how to replace my Google Reader. I'm hoping Twitter + Email Newsletters + Longform App + _______ (maybe a news app?) will get me to where I want to be.
@noahchestnut Excellent. Glad you're enjoying it, we're excited to be on the phone after a long sojourn in the iPad desert.
Personally, I read the NYT app with breakfast and Longform app on my commute and it has been working out well.
Been a big fan of longform (and esp the podcast) for a while now, so when @aaronlammer offered Product Hunt users a pre-release beta, I had to jump at the chance. Check it out!
Yo Aaron! can you give our audience some background on longform and what we can expect with the new app - what is the big goal here?
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@eriktorenberg How smart is it to change that page to say "Hey Product Hunters!" I read that and felt special :)! Makes me wish I had iPhone. I would have jumped all over that beta offer like duck on a junebug.
This is great - huge longform.org fan, and I love that I can get rid of the bookmark on my homescreen, and maybe even get rid of pocket!
I love that everything is offline synced - is that achieved through pushing content in the background?
Also really like the focus on publications and authorship - makes me feel a little bit less guilty consuming this content for free as I'm becoming more of a "fan" of authors and may even be inclined to say buy their book when it comes out.
Why are you waiting for iOS8 to release? Are you using any iOS8 specific features?
@sammybauch Yes, we push content out in the background and all of the articles are therefore available offline (we make sure to load the web page first though!)
+1 on the book comment: We're working on a system of "Longform Cards" where books by the writer will populate into the "Read Page" and readers will be able to 1-tap buy from iBooks without leaving the app. Testing it internally, it's pretty cool.
We have a bunch of iOS 8 features including Handoff and Today Extensions so we decided to hold for that; also gives us more time to make sure it's really stable and easy to use with a healthy beta period.
@aaronlammer wow. wish i could upvote this comment more!
has this always been the vision for longform.org?
I remember at launch it was little more than a curator of longform journalism, and the "killer feature" for me was read it later/pocket/etc links.
it's been interesting to see it evolve - the podcast, collections, native ads, staff picks, the iPad app, and now this iPhone app and the books stuff you're talking about sounds like a pretty big vision you want to execute.
@sammybauch Thanks for reading since the early days!
We've always been committed to pairing great curation/discovery and great delivery (I think there are services that do each well, but none that do both.) When we launched in 2010, Read Later was brand new and at the time it was the best way to read on iPhone (the iPad was juuuuust about to come out.)
But now we want to improve on our first draft: why force people to go on the web to queue up something to read on their phones? It feels clunky presumes that people are sitting in front of a desktop all day finding stuff to read. (Well, yeah, that is what I do, but some people have real work to do.)
Additionally, while curation remains central to our vision, we want to let people branch their interest in feature journalism wherever their curiosity takes them. Want to build out a "Video Games" or "European Politics" reader? Go for it.
The vision is big, yes, but we think that's what's called for. We figure that people probably have room on the front page of their phone for one reading app, and if we want to be that app.
@johndavi We could not have done it without Diffbot!
For anyone interested in text parsing APIs, I highly highly recommend Diffbot. Domain-specific rules made the app 1000x better.
@aaronlammer@johndavi Diffbot is an amazing product, especially the domain specific rules. They're also the best outside platform I've worked with over the past few years.
Ps- loving the new app while traveling. More feedback to come.
after using for a few days, the only thing I'm really missing from my previous longform.org => pocket sync setup is that ability to archive / mark something as "read".
Ideally then that article would be hidden from my following feed, maybe a strikethrough or greyed out on the popular list. Then I'd rather my history show the things that I've read as opposed to just opened.
Pocket does it with making the user tap the check mark, but maybe just once I reach the bottom of the article view it could auto mark as read?
Small gripe, the app overall is really great and has definitely earned a spot on my home screen!
Thanks for the pre-release. I was a user of the previous Longform iPad app, but am really happy to see it coming to iPhone (great for subway reading).
Beautiful typography in the new app!
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