The first time you run Art Authority for iPad, you have the option of viewing an Intro show which has some basic information about the product. To exit this show, tap the exit arrow at the top left of the screen.
This will put you in the main room of the gallery.
The wall in the main room displays
- Broad periods in art history
- Access to a listing of all artists from all periods, and to the Search functions (tap Directory)
- Access to a show of the most significant works across all periods (tap Highlights)
- Access to information on getting around (tap Getting Around)
- Access to information on what's new in this version of the app (tap What's New)
The simplest way to enjoy art in Art Authority is to use Shuffle Mode. In the main room, tap
Directory and then
Shuffle all artists. This brings up an endless random show of works from all artists across all periods and movements. There are similar shuffle mode shows for each period.
To see art from a given period (like Renaissance), tap the period; or browse the periods by flicking from room to room. Each period has its own wall
where you see
- An overview of the period (includes a "Shuffle Mode" show for the period)
- Sub-periods (like Northern Renaissance)
- Access to a listing of all artists from the main period (tap Directory)
To see works of artists from a sub-period, tap the sub-period. A popover appears, with a list of all artists from the sub-period.
Note that shows that have been previously viewed are marked with a white check mark.
Tapping an artist takes you to the artist's page in Wall View. We'll discuss
Slide View shortly.
The first work is displayed in the center of the window. A plaque at the top of the window displays the artist's name, period and sub-period. The artist's name is a tappable link to more information about the artist. A plaque at the bottom shows the work's title and -- if known -- date, medium, dimensions and location. The title and location may be tappable links to more information. All images are shown in a "film strip" down the right side. If the film strip extends below the bottom of the window, you can move it up and down by flicking up and down. Single-tapping any image in the film strip takes you to that image, still in Wall Mode. Tap above the film strip at any time to scroll it back to the first image. Double-tapping any image in the film strip, or double-tapping the image itself, displays that image in Slide Mode. Flicking left or right on the central image takes you to the next or previous image, as does tapping on the far left or right side of the screen.
To the right of the title bar is a pulldown menu
which provides access to three key features:
You can push the menu up out of the way, or get it back, using the tab at the bottom of it.
Some works have videos that describe the work in detail. Such works have a video icon at the end of the text in the Wall View's lower plaque:
Tap the icon to watch the video.
Art Authority for iPad has a full-screen slideshow mode. You enter this mode from
Wall View by double-tapping either the main image or an image in the film strip.
Images are displayed as large as possible on a black background. Captions are displayed briefly at the bottom, along with a navigation bar. At the top is the artist's name, a Wall View button that returns you to Wall View, and a
Settings button. To zoom the image, double-tap it; to zoom back out, double-tap it again. The controls in the navigation bar are, from left to right:
You can see all works of an artist displayed as a grid of thumbnails. To get thumbnails
Tapping on any thumbnail will take you to a Slide View of that image. A red box around an image indicates the image that was displayed when the show last went to grid view. If you tap-and-hold a thumbnail image, summary information for that work will appear in a popover. The number of thumbnails per row can be changed by tapping the Columns button at the top right of the thumbnail display.
You can search among thumbnails by tapping the magnifying glass at the upper left, which brings up a text box and keyboard. The thumbnails will be limited to those whose captions contain the text you enter.
A work's dimensions, if known, are displayed as text (e.g. "59.5 x 122.5 cm") in the lower plaque in Wall View, and in the caption in Slide View. Art Real Size gives a sense of a work's size in a visual, immediate and intuitive way, by displaying an image of a couple next to the work.
You get to Art Real Size by tapping on an image in Wall View, or by tapping
Art Real Size in the
menu in Wall View. While viewing Art Real Size, you can flick left or right, or tap the left or right side of the screen, to move between images. You can also double-tap for Slide View. To get out of Art Real Size, tap once on the current image; you will be returned to Wall Mode.
You can ask to see works that are similar to the work currently displayed. From
Wall View, tap
Art Like This in the
pulldown menu. A show appears, with the current work first, then works in descending order of similarity.
Tapping on
Directory in the
main room or any major room (like "Renaissance") brings up the search popover.
Select the type of search -- by artist name, title, subject or location -- using the buttons at the bottom of the popover. Each search type presents a list of search terms. For searching by artist name, subject, or location, tap on an item in the list to search for that item. Entering text (tap in the text input box and type from the keyboard that pops up) reduces the size of the list. Searching by title is different. For search by title, you can tap on an item in the list, or enter text in the text input box and then tap
Search in the keyboard. In the latter case, Art Authority searches for works whose title contains the phrase you entered.
A special case of searching by location is Art Near Me, which finds and displays art close to your current location. To use Art Near Me, select
Location as the type of search,
and then tap the arrow in the upper left corner of the search popover.
You can change a search option by tapping it in the search popover and selecting a new value. When you have the options you want, tap
Show. Works are displayed in ascending order of their distance from your current location. Tap the underlined title in the top plaque to display a map around your current location.
Another special case of searching by location is Art Near Here, which finds and displays art close to a location you enter. To use Art Near Here, select
Location as the type of search,
and then enter the location, such as "Seattle". A results list is shown as you type, filtered by what you've entered.
From here, you can tap the name of a gallery to get works at that gallery, or tap
Art Near 'seattle', and then
Show, to get works near Seattle. You can fine tune Art Near Here shows by using the same search options as you do for Art Near Me.
You can maintain and view a list of favorite images. To add an image to Favorites, view the image in slide view, tap the
globe icon, then
Save Image to Favorites. To view Favorites, tap
Favorites in the
search screen described above. To delete an image from Favorites, run the Favorites show in slide view. When you're viewing the image you want to delete, tap the
gear icon and then
Delete Image.
You can see highlights from all major periods by tapping
Highlights in the
search screen described above. Likewise, by tapping
Highlights in the artist list for any major period (Renaissance, Baroque, etc), you can see highlights from just that period. There is also a Highlights button on the sign in each room.
Previously downloaded images can be viewed again while offline, with certain limitations. As images are downloaded from the Internet, Art Authority stores them in memory. Stored images can then be viewed while offline. However, the image cache is limited to a certain number of of images, specified in
Settings. After that number, images are removed from cache as necessary, starting with those downloaded earliest.