Box of Fun
Q: What kind of files can I use with Box of Fun?
A: Common formats for comic books are .cbr, .cbz, and .pdf. The first two are really just compressed archives (using .rar and .zip respectively) of a name ordered collection of image files (.jpg, .png, .tiff, etc). It’s easy to make your own if you have such a hankering. Otherwise, you can find thousands of them on various web and ftp sites.
Q: So how do I get comic files into Box of Fun?
A: The easiest method is to install them on your Mac with iTunes.
	1.	Plug your device into your Mac via USB.
	2.	When it appears in iTunes, select it.
	3.	Depending on the version of iTunes you’re using, either select Apps or File Sharing on the left.
	4.	In the File Sharing area, look for Box of Fun in the Apps list and select it.
	5.	Drag your comic book files into the Box of Fun  Documents list.
You can also delete files from your device by selecting and deleting them from that list. If you don’t want to use iTunes or don’t have a Mac (WHAT?!??), you can install them right from your device. You first need to find a way to store the files on your device using things like the iCloud file sharing, the Files app, DropBox, OneDrive, etc. Once they’re there:
	1.	Launch your desired file sharing app.
	2.	Use that app’s UI to find and select the comic book files you want to view.
	3.	Once selected (you might need to do 1 file at a time), look for that app’s method of sharing/exporting the file. Usually a Share button or an icon that looks kinda like ⇪.
	4.	Once in the sharing pane, if you don’t see Open in Box of Fun, you’ll need to customize your sharing actions by tapping the … icon at the right end of the list of icons, then find the Copy to Box of Fun or Open in Box of Fun item. You can first use the Edit button at the top if you want to add this action to your commonly used list of actions.
Obviously, using a Mac to manage files on your device is much easier. A future version of Box of Fun will offer iCloud support, which will make this even easier.
Once you launch Box of Fun with some comics loaded, it’s pretty straight forward. Tap to open. The first time you open a comic, you’ll see tips that explain how to navigate and use the app. If you miss something, you can open the Settings (the gear icon) and turn on “Show tips when opening the next comic”, then open any comic.
You should be able to figure out what all the settings do. The Clear Cache setting is there to clean up the decompressed image files from any comics you’ve opened. If you’re always short on space, set it to After Reading. Otherwise, leave it so it keeps the cached files around for a while, which makes it a bit faster to open and read the comic the next time after you’ve finished a comic. And “finished” means gotten to the last page and closed the comic by going back to the list of comics.
Contact me at the url below if you have any questions or suggestions.
Have a blast reading fun stuff!

©2019 Steve Mills, Armpit Studios
www.armpitstudios.com