By This week, Yahoo has launched its own magazine app for iPad known as Livestand. Though there are features that you won’t be able to enjoy (like viewing your Twitter and Facebook feeds), Livestand will provide you with content not only from Yahoo’ network but also from magazines like Forbes and Consumer Reports. Now if you want to get started with Yahoo Livestand, then here are some tips that will help you.
If you don’t want to go for Flipboard or Evri and you’ve chosen Livestand, then you should know that besides the fact that you’ll get a Windows-like interface, you’ll have the possibility to bookmark the topics you are interested in. Once you launch the application, you’ll be able to read the articles and browse topics but if you want to customize Livestand, then you’ll have to sign in with your Yahoo or Facebook account.
One of the good things about Livestand is that the app will let you create up to 4 Livestand accounts. So, follow the steps below in order to enjoy the app:
1. To login, you’ll have to tap the gear icon that is in the lower-left corner. After you’ve logged in, you’ll be able to personalize Livestand with bookmarks .
Once you get to the home screen, you’ll see My Library listed at the top of the screen. Below this, there are floating featured topics thumbnails. You’ll see that there are topics that are added to My Library and sometimes the same topics are added in your Personal Mix.
What’s a little confusing is that besides adding topics and publications to the top shelf of your library, you can also bookmark both articles and topics.
2. Now if you want to browse for other topics than the ones featured from the home screen, then you’ll just have to tap the Explore All Content link that you’ll find in the lower-right corner. Once you tap on it, you’ll see a list of topics like Technology, Art&Culture and Sports. These topics will be listed on the left whereas the thumbnails of the topics you’ve selected will be on the right.
3. In order to bookmark a topic, you’ll have to tap the green square that has a plus sign. If the bookmark has been added to the top shelf of your library, then this will turn into a stack of books. If this changes into a red bookmark, then you’ll know that the topic is just a bookmark.
In this case, you have to possibilities to access the bookmarked topic. You either go to your Personal Mix or to your list of bookmarks. The bookmark list contains both bookmarked articles and topics. Along the left edge, there’s a bookmark icon. Tap on it to bookmark an article. By doing so, you’ll get to a small window that comes with two options: Add Bookmark and Show Bookmark.
The menu that’s along the left edge contains other buttons too. You’ll find a back button to move up one level, a library button that will allow you to get back to My Library as well as a table of contents button to view the TOC of the publication you are viewing.
4. You’ll find your bookmarked topics in Personal Mix. Each of these topics is given a column of headlines and a link to open the topic. To delete a bookmark, all you have to do is to tap the bookmark icon on the left, then find the topic listed. Now swipe on it and then hit the Delete button.
The app is free as well as the magazines you’ll find here. The less appealing aspect is that there’s no search functionality which means that you won’t be able to search for a certain publication or topic.
