So, the first combo issue arrived at my doorstep this week. I eagerly cracked it open and started taking it all in. Keeping true to their promise, the magazine is bigger, brighter, and printed on better quality paper. The layout for the cover is all Woodworking Magazine. As for the inside, I definitely see more Popular Woodworking. And really, that’s to be expected. Some of the most notable features of Woodworking Magazine were black and white photos, no advertising, and projects that span multiple articles. Obviously, these things just aren’t going to work for this single magazine that needs to be as many things as possible to as many people as possible (including advertisers).

All that said, the content was excellent. I found myself really getting into the Jerome Bias article on Thomas Day. A free southern black woodworker that owned his own slaves!?!? Yeah, you should read that article! I also found Bob Lang’s primer on tables to be very informative. Its one of those articles you want to cut out and put on your shop wall so you never forget this stuff. And of course there are some great offerings from other notables, like Chris Schwarz, Chuck Bender, Bob Flexner, Roy Underhill, Glen Huey, and Kari Hultman.

Now there’s one other aspect that we can’t ignore. The folks at Popular Woodworking Magazine are making a considerable effort to have more of an online presence. At the end of each article there is a small box that refers you to various online resources. This gives the author an opportunity to expand on a particular topic in a way that is just not possible in the magazine. And if you ask me, this is where the most exciting stuff is going to be. For some odd reason, I seem to favor video. Go figure! Now while the list of links is handy in concept, I find the TinyURL links to be rather off-putting. For those of you who aren’t familiar, TinyURL is a service that takes very long links and shortens them for you. This can be very handy when space is a consideration. So instead of a link like Popularwoodworking.com/marcs-awesome-article, you might see tinyurl.com/3s5u5hy. This works well on the web, but in a magazine, it just doesn’t work for me. Furthermore, should TinyURL go down the pooper, all links published in this magazine will be non-functional. A meaningful link with proper words would be much easier for me to remember, and I wouldn’t necessarily need the magazine by my side to find the content online. But of course, there isn’t enough space to put a full-length link in the magazine. While reading, I found myself in one of those virtual/real-life cross-over moments where all I wanted to do was click the link on the page. Of course, this is all a work in progress and I won’t even pretend to have a better solution for them. But what I hope to see is a dedicated page for each issue (on the website), where you can find all the supplementary material in one place. Then perhaps at the end of the article, they can refer people to PopularWoodworking.com/April2010. This way, its an easy link to remember and I don’t actually need the magazine when I am at my computer. Once readers get to the web page, the site itself will help them find the content they are looking for. For all I know, this might already be in the works.

Well, enough griping about a minor detail. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the new issue. I also love the fact that the Popular Woodworking staff, in addition to being a darn nice group of people, are very much aware of the changing landscape in media. And rather than waiting for the current to push them to their destination, they strapped on an outboard motor and are steering themselves in the direction they feel they need to go. I suggest either subscribing, or picking up a copy at your local newsstand. When you read it, come back here and let me know what you think. A discussion was already started in the Community if you would like to chime in with your thoughts.

***Just heard from The Schwarz: “The tinyurls will go away in a couple issues once we switch to Drupal. Then weâ??ll have meaningful urls.” That’s great to hear!