Updated for Version 1.2
http://politicoTracker.com/guideTE

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General Purpose

politicoTracker TE is a Twitter Reader app. It is pre-configured to follow the tweeterings of US political figures. It is not intended to be used to update your own Twitter account.

You cannot use this app to perform any task that requires you to have a Twitter account. For example, you cannot reply to a tweet, re-tweet, add people to your Twitter Followers list, or upload your status. There are plenty of free and paid apps that do that, and do it well. This app serves a different purpose.

Viewing a politico's Tweetstream

You get a list of a politician's last 50 updates by tapping on the person's name in either the main politico list, or in your favorites list.

The main politico list is sorted alphabetically by state, then by last name. You can scroll down the list to find someone in particular, or you can use the filter box at the top. Typing text in the filter box will limit the list to those names that have that text in it. You can type any portion of the name, case insensitive, or a title. So if you type "john", you will get all politicos with a first name of "John", or with a last name of "Johnson", or anyone named "Dejohns", for example. If you type "us rep" you get all the United States Representatives.

To get back the full list, you clear the filter by tapping the small X inside the filter box on the right, and tapping on "Cancel".

Handling Tweets

A politico's tweet feed displays as a series of boxes containing the text of the tweet, along with the date and time it was posted, and the method used. The times are in the UTC, or Greenwich Mean Time zone. The top of the feed contains a box with the politician's icon, name, twitterId, location, and web site address (if any).

Next to each tweet is a small box with an "open" symbol. Tapping on this box will open it to reveal action icons, that allow you to email the tweet or send the tweet to Safari. You can tap the box again to close it.

The proces of emailing tweets depends on the OS version of your device. If you have OS 3.0 or higher, the email will be sent directly from inside the app, so once you're done you can continue using the app where you left off. If your device is running OS 2.X, the app will close and the email program will open, with the email ready to be addressed and sent. However, once you're done you have to start over using the app.

Sending the tweet to Safari is handy if you have a twitter account, as you can then retweet the message and/or follow the politician in your timeline. Doing this will close the app, however.

Any link embeded in a tweet is clickable, including shortened urls, links to web sites, and pics. All links will open within the app, saving you the hassle of unexpectedly jumping to Safari.

In the case of YouTube links, the link will first show you the video still-frame with a "Play" button. You can press play to view the video, and when it's done you will return to the app.

Saving Tweet Links for Off-line Viewing

You have a number of options for how to save web pages linked from a tweet:

Email Page URL
Bookmark URL
Download Full Page
Open Page in Safari, to bookmark or email from there

These options are accessed by tapping the upper right icon when viewing a web page.

Bookmarking or Downloading pages will add them to your Tweet Links Favorites list in alphabetical order by the Twitter's name, then by when they were saved. The difference is that when you bookmark a URL, you must be connected to the intenet to see the page when you use that bookmark. If you download (save) the full page, it will be saved to your device and will be viewable without an internet connection.

Note that a downloaded "full page" includes only the full text of the story, and not external formatting files, images, or other objects on the page, to cut down on data transfer and the amount of space each page takes on your device. If you later view the saved page while connected to the internet, those objects will be reloaded. If you are not connected, you can still read the text, but if the page relied on external formatting it may not look right. This will vary depending on how the web page was constructed.

In rare cases, a downloaded page may not re-load at all due to missing objects. If this happens, tap the Options icon at the top right, and open the page in the Safari web browser.

Viewing all Tweets from a State

Each state grouping in the main politico List has an "all from XX" item you can choose. When you do so, you will see the latest 50 tweets by all politicos in that state's grouping in one list.

When viewing the aggregate timeline, you can tap on any person's name to collapse the tweetstream to only see posts by that person. Tapping on the flag or icon at the top will re-expand all tweets.

Expand and collapse tweets in aggregate view.

Managing Favorites

Besides saving pages, you may also keep a list of "Favorite" politicos, to make it easier to get to their tweets in the future. You do so by tapping the plus (+) icon at the top right of the news results list. When a politico is added to your favorites list, the text <favorite> will appear next to the person's name at the top, and the plus (+) icon will turn into the Delete (trash) icon, so you can remove that person from your list.

You access the favorites list page by tapping the multiple-head-and-twittie bird icon at the top left of the main politico list page.

You can remove politicos and pages directly from the favorites list by tapping the Edit button at the top right of that page. Then, tap the red circle next to an item you want to remove, and confirm the deletion by tapping the Delete button. Cancel a deletion by tapping anywhere else on the screen. Click the Done button at the top right when you are - well - done editing the page.

Alternatively, you can delete items from either list by swiping your finger across the row in either direction, and confirming with the Delete button. Cancel the removal by tapping anywhere else on the screen.

Miscellaneous

You can access the app info page to view this Users Guide or the Privacy Policy (or just to gaze upon the excellent artwork) at any time by tapping the small <i> icon at the top right of the main politico list page. The info page also has a button to visit the politicoTracker web site using Safari.

When viewing one of the support pages, you can rotate your device to get a wider view of the text. You'll need to rotate back to get the dismissal icon.

Thank You !!

We thank you for your interest in or purchase of politicoTracker Twitter Edition, and we welcome your feedback. There is a contact form on the web site at

http://politicoTracker.com/contact

where you can report an issue, request a new feature, or just wish us a nice day!

Don't forget to submit a review in the App Store!!