So far I am adoring Ultimate Magic, but this has been severely bugging me. In previous PDFs I could simply click on a spell's name and magically be transported to its full description. I enjoyed it because it saved time and mindless scrolling. Now the spells in UM are listed by letter instead of by spell and I cannot instant click.
Also, the spells in the wizard and sorcerer listings are not separated schools. This makes it difficult for me as I have to look up every individual spell, which is made more bothersome by the current menu limitations.
Just my two cents on a rather minor issue, but still something I wish could be improved upon.
I too miss the links, i hope that they will come back.
Does the .pdf of the APG have links?
No, only the Core Rulebook.
Senior Software Developer
|
Links are neat but they're also really time-consuming to create properly, which is why we don't do them everywhere it would be nice to have them. We have hired a new person whose job (among other things) will be to make our PDFs, and it's possible that will mean that we can add links to more of our PDFs. Whether that means we'll have time to go back and add them to already-created PDFs is probably a little more in doubt, but we'll know more once we get the new workflow set up.
|
Links are neat but they're also really time-consuming to create properly, which is why we don't do them everywhere it would be nice to have them. We have hired a new person whose job (among other things) will be to make our PDFs, and it's possible that will mean that we can add links to more of our PDFs. Whether that means we'll have time to go back and add them to already-created PDFs is probably a little more in doubt, but we'll know more once we get the new workflow set up.
Are you talking about links within the page (like the Core Rulebook) or bookmarks to each spell (like the APG)? Or perhaps both?
|
Chief Technical Officer
|
Links are neat but they're also really time-consuming to create properly, which is why we don't do them everywhere it would be nice to have them. We have hired a new person whose job (among other things) will be to make our PDFs, and it's possible that will mean that we can add links to more of our PDFs. Whether that means we'll have time to go back and add them to already-created PDFs is probably a little more in doubt, but we'll know more once we get the new workflow set up.Are you talking about links within the page (like the Core Rulebook) or bookmarks to each spell (like the APG)? Or perhaps both?
Better bookmarks will definitely be within her purview. Frankly, they should have been broken out by spell for this book in the first place, but there's not actually a person whose job it is to ensure that these things are standardized. Once she's on the scene, it will actually be her job to make sure we achieve greater consistency across products when it comes to PDF features.
Hyperlinks within the pages, though, are sadly unfeasible for a number of reasons, not least of which is that interdocument hyperlinks in the PDF format are so fragile as to be virtually unusable.
Intradocument links aren't quite as bad, and since the Core Rulebook is primarily self-referential, we opted to include them there. Books like Ultimate Magic, though, contain so many external references that providing *only* internal hyperlinks would look like a botched job (why is "magus" linked, but "cleric" not?).
To be honest, even incorporating internal hyperlinks in the Core Rulebook has made it painfully difficult to update the print and PDF editions of that volume, as well as the PRD, each time we do a reprint. While I'm glad we did take the extraordinary effort to create hyperlinks for the Core Rulebook, I don't expect to implement it in any other book until the technology improves.
Thanks a lot for the quick responses! I'm also happy I wasn't the only one missing the previous options :)
After reading the official responses, I can see how difficult the task can be and appreciate all the effort put into the Core to allow clickable spells.
I do hope the expandable alphabetical spell menu will be a feature included in a later date. Rooting for you, new PDF magician employee!
Will future products break Sorcerer/Wizard spells out by School. It is painful when playing a specialist to see what spells are availible from your school or which spells would be opposition spells.
+1
Although i wouldn't call it painful.| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Will future products break Sorcerer/Wizard spells out by School. It is painful when playing a specialist to see what spells are availible from your school or which spells would be opposition spells.
To be fair, it's equally painful when playing a} a sorcerer or b} a wizard and you're just trying to read the bloody spells and have to cope with them not being in alphabetical order.