Heatmaps, which are available to the publications hosted on FlowPaper cloud has proved popular among our users. As a consequence, we’re extending them to also cover the re:flow template so that you can track how your visitors are reading your responsive publications as they scroll through your content.
You can find your heatmap analytics in the account area in the cloud publications section. Here’s a great video tutorial to get you started if you have not used heatmaps before: How to use Heatmaps to Better Understand Your Readers
In order to provide better URL customization options for you and to provide the highest security standards for your publications, FlowPaper is changing the format for URLs when you upload new or updated publications to FlowPaper’s cloud hosting. Your previously uploaded publications, on the old URL system will of course continue to work as normal.
The old format would look something like this:
https://online.flowpaper.com/abc123/MyPublication
The new URL format will look like this:
https://abc123.flowpaper.com/MyPublication
The “abc123” identifier is a unique, randomly generated ID which gets created when you create your account with us. You’ll be able to customize this identifier in the near future so that you can use your company name or any other name of choice. It can then, for example, look like this:
https://airnz.flowpaper.com/KiaOraOctober2020/ (Which is Air New Zealands fabulous inflight magazine, created using FlowPaper)
Please let us know if you’re experiencing any problems with the new URL system when uploading new publications.
The summer is coming to an end on the northern hemisphere and we hope that you’ve had a good break from work with lots of sun and a rest from the ongoing problems of Covid-19. We’ve been busy improving the desktop publisher with a number of changes. While we’re anticipating another release in a few weeks, we decided to release a first version that contains a few fixes.
Added the ability to customize the video preview for embedded videos
Added the ability to remove PDF pages inside the desktop publisher
Improved page/drag animations for FlowPaper Elements
It is now possible to zoom in and out in the content editor in the desktop publisher
General bug fixes and improvements in rendering accuracy following reports submitted to us
It is now possible to add “expanded content” to pages in the Elements template.
Improved audio player (style and functionality)
Heatmaps are now available in FlowPaper Elements publications
We’re happy to announce version 3.4.0 which features the ability to collect heat map data for your publications! First out with support for this is the Zine template, with the Elements and Re:flow templates to follow. Heatmaps provides a way of visualizing how people click, pan and zoom in and out of your publications by collecting data points that are later grouped together into a visual representation. You can see an example of a heatmap below.
Heatmaps are available to all creative license holders as of today. You can find the data that is collected in the account area.
Improved Accessibility
Another great feature that we’re introducing today is improved accessibility with reading tracking support through a new user interface feature. This improved reading mode shows the reader where in a page the screen reader is currently reading out loud.
We will be releasing video tutorials for both these features shortly so that you can learn about these in more detail.
Version 3.3.9 mainly contains stability fixes and improvements in rendering accuracy. Its great to see that so many of you are getting into the newest Re:flow template. We’re planning a bigger release with new features for the Re:flow template during June/July so please keep the feedback coming if you have features you’re missing! We will also be extending the publication analytics even further during the same period as well as add support for even better collaboration between users in the same team while using the desktop publisher.
Here are some of the notable fixes/adjustments in the last release
Fixed so that links in footnotes are correctly navigating when clicked (Re:flow template)
It is now possible to add in your custom tax/address details in the invoice section of the account area
Improved the match similar functionality for EPUB3 font substitution
Support for fallback-font added to FlowPaper elements for improved font accuracy
Fixed an issue where some links were not always clickable in Elements
Improved accuracy in text clipping when covered by images
It is now possible to add popover images to Elements and Zine publications
Fixed an issue related to self-hosted videos interfering with zoom in Zine
We have a new version coming up next week! Except for general stability & performance improvements, here’s a summarized list of improvements that are worth noticing for this release.
Remember to reach out to us if you have any problems with this release or if you need any assistance at all in renewing or accessing your account due to the ongoing Covid-19 disruptions.
A number of improvements to the “Global Styles” section of the re:flow template including the ability to add Google fonts to your publication
It is now possible to add videos as backgrounds to your re:flow publications
It is now possible to adjust the padding in tables by dragging them
It is now possible to resize the height of blocks in the reflowable web page builder template by dragging them
Improved the stability and performance in rendering the thumbnails on the left which significantly helps when working with the re:flow template
Added the ability to switch working directory from the top menu in cases where your main drive is too small or you just want to store your publications on a different location such as a network drive
Added the ability to auto play audio clips when a user turns to a page with the ability to control play and pause via the toolbar
Various stability & performance improvements
Added the option to bind the browser back and forward button to in-publication navigation for Zine & Elements
It is now possible to replace pages in ‘Elements’ publications
It is now possible to add new pages to your publication (use the page navigator and right click on the page where you want to add your new page(s))
Improved parallax style maing it easier to get nice looking start blocks for your responsive web publications
As you may have noticed, New Zealand is moving into country-wide lockdown on the 25th of March in an attempt to limit the effects from the ongoing pandemic.
This does not affect FlowPaper or our hosting services. We have a distributed team, able to work from home, spread out accross the world and we are operating as we would during normal conditions.
We’re always here to answer your questions. If you’re having difficulties in renewing your account during this period then reach out and let us know and we’ll help you out.
The world is occupied with the ongoing pandemic. We’re commited to do our part to help our clients to get through this. If you’re having difficulties in renewing your account during this period then reach out and let us know and we’ll help you out.
FlowPaper 3.3.7 provides a number of bug fixes and two enhancements which we hope will provide great value to our users.
This version introduces “Leads” which will allow you to collect visitor/reader information from your clients. You can find the collected data for your leads in the account area.
It is now possible to add audio-only clips to your publications
Kia Ora! FlowPaper have undergone a number of performance optimizations for our web services during January which ensures stability and performance as we’re moving into 2020.
Apart from the cloud hosting upgrades; here’s a list of summarized changes that has been peformed.
A number of memory performance improvements as well as output optimizations for Elements and Zine
It is now possible to add custom CSS rules to your publications
PDFTk, which was used for some operations, is no longer installed together with FlowPaper on Mac OSX
Minor improvements text animations in FlowPaper Elements
TOC will now close on small screens to make sure the underlying content is visible after navigating
It is now possible to add custom CSS rules to the publications (Elements & Zine)
Fixed a memory leak which prevented very large publications from processing properly
It is now possible to use branding logos up to 250 px wide
Fixed an issue for Zine where the publication wouldn’t rescale in all cases when going into full screen from an iframed page
Improved the accuracy in font rendering regarding italic/bold if the font has those properties embedded as part of the font.
Fix to improve the download of multiple PDF files at the same time in Zine when using split mode
Fix for self-hosted videos not showing when password was applied to the publication
This demonstration shows the difference between the three major templates that FlowPaper offers (Zine, Elements, Mobile-first)
Deciding which template to use
FlowPaper comes with three main templates that you can choose from, Zine, Elements and Mobile First. This tutorial will give you the basic differences between the three templates.
Zine
Zine provides an optimised experience for your publication, where your PDF is compressed and converted into a web format that will end up to ruffly a third of the original PDF size. It does this at the same time making sure it will be displayed in the best way possible for mobile devices as well as for desktops.
The Zine template provides basic functionality as far as editing, including the ability to add links, images, video or audio to your publication. It also has the classical flip book look and features realistic page turns.
Elements
Elements contain the same base functionality as Zine but it is also able to display your publication in different output formats, such as a flip book, sliding pages or a folding brochure.
On top of compressing the output and optimising it for mobile, the Elements template takes every object inside the PDF and converts it into an HTML5 object. It means you can affect objects in your publication on an individual level.
This means that you can select a text snippet and add interactivity to it, or you can choose to animate the whole page if you wish. You can also move objects around or even delete them.
The Elements template also has the ability to make the digital publication more accessible. You will find these options under the settings tab on the left-hand side menu. Under the settings menu, you will also find further options, such as publication protection, which adds an additional layer of protection to your digital publication. And by turning all of your text into objects, accessibility options help by making it available for screen readers and more. While FlowPaper does this, it is also able to optimise the content so that search engines are able to pick up on the content better.
There is the same ability to switch to a mobile format as for the Zine template. All the content will be resized automatically.
Mobile-first (Re:flow) template
The mobile-first template is for users who want complete control over where content is placed in their final publication.
This means that when FlowPaper imports the PDF, you can import what sections you want on which page you want them on and in what order. Either choose to import the whole page as a static page (which usually is wanted for pages such as the front cover, or adverts), or import the page content in a reflow format, by clicking the Add tab on the right-hand side of the page you wish to import. A new window opens which lets you choose to either import the page as it is in the PDF or import it and reflow it at the same time.
You can also import content by double-clicking the sections you wish to import and in what order you wish them to come in the digital version of your publication. Add videos, images or sound anywhere in the publication.
Add videos, images and links where you wish inside the template.
Since the mobile-first template acts like a micro-website, it will resize and reflow the content to fit the device it is displayed on.
