| Frequently Asked Questions - How can I learn more about Byline?
More information and screenshots are available in the App Store. If you’d like to ask a question or give feedback, please send us an email or tweet.
- If I’ve already bought Byline for iPhone & iPod touch, can I upgrade to add iPad support?
Yes, exisiting users can upgrade at a 50% discount from the usual price. Just download the universal version of Byline, and upgrade in-app to remove the ads. The discount should be shown and applied automatically. If it isn’t, just reinstall the iPhone & iPod touch version of Byline from iTunes or download a fresh copy and open it once on the device before upgrading.
- Do I have to purchase the upgrade twice, once for my iPhone and again for my iPad?
No. Once you’ve upgraded, you can use Byline without ads on all your devices. Just tap the “RESTORE” button on the in-app upgrade screen to apply the upgrade on a new device.
- When viewing an item, what is the function of each button in the toolbar?
Link — Open the web page linked to by the item in Byline’s built-in browser. Send — Open in Safari, send by email, post to Twitter, or add to Instapaper/RiL. Star — Add or remove the item from your list of starred items. Share — Add or remove the item from your list of shared items. Note — Create and share a note which links to the page.
- How can I access Byline’s settings?
Byline’s settings can be reached from the “Folders” screen. Here’s a brief explanation of each setting:
Orientation — Lock in Portrait / Lock in Landscape Enable this to lock Byline in its current orientation. You may find this useful if you frequently use Byline while lying down.
Syncing — Manual Control Only If enabled, Byline will only sync when you tap the refresh button. Otherwise, it will automatically sync the read/starred/shared state of items as necessary and load new items every thirty minutes (when open).
Syncing — Main Folder Restricts syncing to the feeds in a particular folder. You’ll still see other folders if they contain some of the same feeds. You may find this useful if some of your feeds are updated frequently and you want to avoid them drowning out more important feeds when you’re on the go.
Syncing — All Items / Starred Items / Notes Allows you set the number of items to load from Google Reader.
Syncing — Show Read Items If enabled, Byline will load read as well as unread items.
Syncing — Sort by Oldest If enabled, items will be sorted in reverse chronological order. This setting does not affect the “Starred Items” and “Notes” lists.
Caching — Wi-Fi Only If enabled, Byline won’t cache items for offline browsing over a 3G or Edge connection. You may find this useful if you are travelling with your iPhone or on a metered data plan.
Caching — Images If enabled, Byline will cache images (and other content) embedded in your items.
Caching — Web Pages — Reformat for Mobile If enabled, cached web pages will be processed with Instapaper Mobilizer. This results in faster syncing and in many cases an easier reading experience, but discards the original formatting.
Caching — Web Pages — Automatic Caching — All Items If enabled, Byline will cache web pages for all your feeds which contain a shortened version of the text on the linked web page. It uses statistical analysis to decide which feeds should be cached, and those feeds are marked with translucent ticks in the section below.
Caching — Web Pages — Automatic Caching — Starred Items / Notes Allows you to enable web page caching for starred items and notes. Every item in these folders will be cached, if possible.
Caching — Web Pages — Caching by Feed Feeds which will be cached automatically are marked with transparent ticks. Tap on a feed once to manaully enable web page caching, or twice to manually disable caching, overriding the automatic decision-making process.
Home Screen — Show Unread Count If enabled, the number of unread items loaded by Byline will be displayed on the home screen.
Accounts — Google Reader Change the username and password to sign into a different Google Reader account.
Accounts — Twitter Tap to sign into your Twitter account, which allows you to tweet links from Byline. You must be online to sign into Twitter, but once you’re signed in you can compose tweets offline.
Accounts — Instapaper / Read It Later Enter your account details if you want to be able to add links to Instapaper or Read It Later.
- Can I view images in my feed items when I’m offline?
Yes. Byline can cache full feed content, including images, for up to 1000 recent items, starred items and notes. In addition, Byline can cache complete web pages linked to by these items so that you can read articles in full when you’re offline. See the answer above for details of how Byline’s settings affect offline browsing.
- How do I add notes?
Google Reader lets you create a note from any website you visit. This is a great way to mark a page that doesn’t appear in one of your news feeds for offline browsing in Byline.
To create a note within Byline, just tap the button on the far right of the toolbar. If you’re currently viewing an item or web page, a link will be attached to the note automatically.
To create a note from your Mac or PC, use the “Note in Reader” bookmarklet found on your notes page in Google Reader. To use this bookmarklet from your iPhone or iPod Touch, simply add it to your browser’s toolbar or bookmarks menu and set iTunes to sync your bookmarks.
- How do I subscribe to feeds?
You can’t do this from within Byline, but you can subscribe to feeds directly from Safari on your iPhone or iPod Touch using a bookmarklet provided by Google. Simply visit the Google Reader goodies page from your Mac or PC, drag the bookmarklet under the “Subscribe as you surf” heading to your browser’s toolbar, and set iTunes to sync bookmarks.
- Are my passwords kept secure?
Yes. Your Google password is encrypted in your keychain and sent directly to Google over a secure connection. Instapaper and Read it Later passwords (if entered) are handled the same way. Twitter sign in uses OAuth, which means that Byline never even sees your password.
- How can I mark all items as read?
Just swipe across the title of a list as you’re viewing it to mark all as read and return to the “Folders” screen. You’ll also see a “Mark All as Read” button in the top-left corner of the screen when you enter edit mode.
- Can I shrink the link in tweets?
Byline automatically shortens links if the tweet would be too long otherwise. If you’re not online when composing the tweet, it will shorten the link before posting the tweet when you’re back online.
- Can I include titles of items in tweets?
Byline will insert selected text before the link when composing new tweets. To include the title of the article, click and hold on it to bring up the copy/paste selection handles, move them to select the entire title, then select “Post to Twiter”.
- Can I post tweets when Byline is offline?
Yes, you can post to Twitter offline. Tweets composed while offline are stored by Byline and posted when you’re next online, after first shortening the link if necessary.
- Why is caching slower than it was in previous versions of Byline?
This is simply because Byline caches more of your items by default. Byline’s new statistical analysis feature allows it to determine which of your feeds are truncated, and items in those feeds are now automatically cached. To restore the old behaviour, open Byline’s settings, scroll to the “Caching” heading, select “Web Pages”, and disable automatic caching of the “All Items” folder (or custom main folder).
Contact Us Please email or tweet if you have any questions or comments. |