Sunday, April 06, 2008

Dear Editor of Wired

If you have a physical copy of the April 2008 issue, please try reading the article The Perfect Storm Trooper. It might actually be called Episode VII: Fanboys since that's what the Table of Contents says, but that text isn't on the article's page. According to the table of contents it starts on page 144, but it's a little difficult to verify that since the two pages of pictures that begin the article have no page numbers. Actually neither do the first two pages of text, though the second ends with "continued on page 179" and that's the point of this letter.

Page 142 has a page number. it's in the lower outside corner in white text on a five (yes that's five) color background. Ten pages after that have no page numbers until a 153 in white text on a clean black background centered at the bottom of the page.

The next page number I'm really surprised I managed to find, it's 163. It's in grey text on a black background which is part of a large horizontal line, which for no reason, is going through the large text "Kurzweil" across a two page spread. The 163 is in the middle of the middle line of a capital E, centered in the page two inches from the top. I will also mention the three small black squares at the bottom outside of what must be page 162, have no page number in them, in spite of the fact it would be very convenient.

Page 165 continues the trend of 163 with grey text on a black line going across the page. It's in fact even harder to find as it's almost centered vertically on the page and is only a quarter of an inch from the center binding. Page 164 in the lower outside corner, where a page number would be convenient, only has two small black squares.

The next page number is 168, light grey text on a dark grey background, at the top of the page, near the center binding. It's followed by the text "2008 APR WRD". It looks like a smudge on the graphic.

Page number 171 is a marvel in clarity. Blue text on light grey background at the top outside of the page. Page 172, 174 and 176 follow this trend though the text color changes.

The next page numbered is 181, white text in three black boxes at the bottom outside of the page. Page 186, the last of the issue follows the same design.

The last 44 pages of your magazine have numbers on less than a quarter of the pages. And those pages seem to be trying their best to hide the numbers, changing the location, choosing low contrast colors, and in two cases placing them in the middle of pages where no one is likely to find them.

Actually, only the last page of the article The Perfect Storm Trooper. (or Episode VII: Fanboys, whatever it's called) has a page number. Given that it's split and I'm asked to find the end of the story, it would be nice if you bothered to number some more of them.

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