The first time you run Art Authority for Kindle Fire, you have the option of viewing an Intro show which has some basic information about the product. To exit this show, click 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 function (tap Directory)
• Access to information on getting around (tap Getting Around)

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. This takes you to a wall for that period



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 Renaissance Artists)

Wall View

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 clickable 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. Tapping any image in the film strip displays that image in the center of the window. Flicking left or right on the central image takes you to the next or previous image.

You can also move around within the show by tapping the Controller icon in the upper right corner,



which brings up the Controller popover



The controls in the Controller are, from the top,

• Previous and next image
• First image
• Thumbnails
• Slide View
• Art Like This

Slide View

Art Authority for Kindle Fire has a full-screen slideshow mode. You enter this mode from Wall View by either clicking the main image or by double-clicking 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:

• First image - not displayed when you're viewing the first image
• Previous image - not displayed when you're viewing the first image
• Play/pause
• Next image
• Topic info (i) - display a Wiki article on the current work, if available, otherwise on the artist
• Globe icon (more options)
• About This Topic - display a Wiki article on the artist of the current work
• Save Image to Gallery - save the current image to the Kindle Fire's Gallery app
• Share Image - ???
• Thumbnails

Thumbnails

You can see all works of an artist displayed as an array of thumbnails. To get thumbnails

• From Wall View - tap the Controller and then the thumbnails icon.
• From Slide View - tap the thumbnails icon in the navigation bar.

Tapping on any thumbnail will take you to a Slide View of that image. The red box around an image indicates the image that was displayed when the show last went to thumbnail mode. If you tap-and-hold a thumbnail image, summary information for that work will appear in a popover. The number of thumbnails displayed can be changed in Settings, or 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. This brings up a text box and keyboard. The thumbnails will be limited to those whose captions contain the text you enter.

Searching

Tapping on Directory in the main room 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.

Offline mode

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.