Popular Woodworking has words!
Jim Cosgrove
>and that�s a good thing! I subscribe to both PW and FWW. In my opinion, however, FWW continues to slip in quality. It�s easy for me to compare FWW over time because I own every issue going back to the first one. Unfortunately, the most recent issues have become almost cartoon-like (they are starting to remind me of the Reader�s Digest�s AWW). The focus of the �articles� in FWW is okay and mostly of interest to me (getting better in some ways by devoting more space to hand tools and period furniture), but Taunton has added so much white space and enlarged the photos to such a degree that very little text remains. The �article� on glue, for example, had huge photos of glue bottles but said precious little about joint creep and nothing about white glue that I recall. I purchase magazines and books for the information they contain, not because they resemble some graphic designer�s idea of �pretty.� Photos and illustrations are often helpful, but they usually are best when they complement text instead of replacing it. Taunton just doesn�t get it�sometimes you need the picture AND the 1,000 words! I stopped buying comic books years ago. If that�s what FWW eventually becomes, I�ll stop buying it too.
In contrast, PW has not forgotten that some us still read and value the written wood. Sure, PW has photos�but they are appropriately sized to show necessary detail and are used to complement each article. While FWW continues to decline (again IMHO), PW improves with every issue. Its articles tend to be unique and not �me too� knock-offs of other woodworking magazines. The focus on hand tools suits me just fine. My hat is off to Chris and the rest of the crew at PW. Please keep the words coming!
P.S. I just re-read my post and I hope that I have not offended anyone with my rant. I still enjoy FWW and learn from it. It's just that I'm concerned about where it (and many other publications) are going. But mostly, I wanted to thank PW for bucking the trend by continuing to value the written word.
