Digital magazines are often seen as a way of reproducing a printed publication on screen, however they are much more than this. Flicking through pages in a printed magazine is a very different experience to swiping on a tablet or smartphone, let alone the numerous interactivity you can include in a digital edition. With the right digital magazine software, you can create a truly engaging experience for your audience across all devices.
There are many factors to consider when creating a successful digital magazine and in today’s blog we are going to look at what vital elements contribute to their success.
Page Turning
Allow your publication to have a flipping effect that mirrors the page turning of a newspaper or magazine. With 3D Issue, you have three options for navigating through your magazine, flip, slide and presentation. While flip gives the reader a feeling similar to using a newspaper or magazine, slide allows readers to swipe or slide the screen to move the magazine onto the next set of double pages and is most popular with tablet users. Finally, presentation can be selected for those who want to display the publication one page at a time.
Embedded Video and Image Galleries
One great advantage digital editions have over print is the ability to showcase multiple images in one space. By embedding an image gallery, you can show several images on one page which can be simply navigated through using the slide or arrows within the gallery window. An embedded video allows you to display engaging content from Youtube by simply using the URL.
Branding
Add to digital pages the links to your website, social networking sites, links to phone and contact. Incorporate the contact icons and symbols in your design, then add clickable hotspots in the digital publishing software. Branding will also let your readers know the author of the magazine.
Always be sure to include branding within your digital magazine. Add a customizable background, a preloader, your company logo and more to ensure you’re publicizing your brand effectively.
Add Social Plugins
The social plugins feature allows you to integrate your social content within your publication. The post added from the social media page/account or feed will open as an iframe within your digital edition.
To do this using 3D Issue flipbooks, simply select the page you wish to place the button/hotspot to activate the social media plugin within your publication. Select the plugin then simply click and drag the area on the page you would like it placed. Enter the details. For example, Facebook, enter either your Facebook login or search for a page. Click ok.
When your magazine is built, clicking on this plugin feature within your digital publication will open an Iframe, automatically pulling in and updating the content from your source.
Less Load Time
Slow load times can cause your audience to lose concentration and interest in your magazine. It’s important to keep your readers enthralled which is why a highly responsive digital magazine is key.
Time was something we consider valuable for both readers and for publishers creating their digital magazine. In our Version 9 software release, we created our new separate uploader so that our customers could make the most of their time. They could continue working on other publications while one is uploading in our separate program.
Optimisation and loading speeds for mobile screens were key elements in improving our digital magazine software experience.
Available on Multiple Platforms
It’s widely known that readers today are using multiple devices to access online content. With the number of people using these devices such as smartphones and tablets on the increase, it’s imperative that your magazine be viewable on them. If your magazine isn’t available for mobile viewing, you can be guaranteed disappointed readers.
Mobile First
Mobile devices are your audiences closest associate, its where your audiences are spending most of their time online. Nowadays there’s more traffic on the internet from mobile devices and more people are viewing content on mobile devices than on desktops.
Ask yourself, is your magazine content optimized well for mobile? Will your magazine run smoothly on mobile devices? It’s more important now than ever to adapt and optimize for the mobile market.
With our flipbook version 9 release we focused heavily on mobile by creating two versions of the same publication. One for larger screen readers and one for mobile. We also changed how the magazines are rendered on the different devices however from the user’s perspective, the outputted magazines would look precisely the same.
There are many elements to a digital magazine that contributes to its success. It’s important for publishers to research the market and choose the appropriate digital magazine software, one which will provide these elements. Not only the aspects mentioned above add to a digital magazines success, you could also speak of Interactive ads, social media sharing, push notifications, audio, table of contents, bookmarks, archives and more.
If you have any questions or would like some more information simply contact info@3dissue.com.
