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.
Can I produce single pages that won’t default to showing as a spread when views on an iPad?
Answer
Yes you can force the viewer to only show 1 page at the time.
If you're using one of the 'Elements' templates: Go into the settings section on the left (click on the cog). Set "Max Visible Pages" to 1.
If you're using one of the 'Zine' templates. Go into the settings section on the left (click on the cog). Select 'Flip Single' in the starting mode drop down menu
Is there a way to create a template or set default controls?
Answer
You can save your current settings into a template by using the template settings on the right hand side, under the template thumbnail in the style section). Use the "save as template" button to create a new template with your current settings. Alternatively, you can watch our tutorial here: https://flowpaper.com/How-to-create-and-save-a-style-template-for-PDF-documents/
The easiest way to do this is to use the desktop publisher and use the style section on the right hand side to disable the shadows. Then publish your document which will give you a UI_Zine.xml style file that you can use in other publications or in other places.
Is it possible to remove all navigation on the bottom, the arrows, full page icons, etc...except for the side arrows in the zone format?
Answer
Yep you can disable the toolbar completely if you don't want it. If you're using the Elements viewer then simply edit out the toolbar from the index.html file once published.
I have a stock photo I would like to upload and use as background. Can I do this?
I am also wondering if I can have a transparent background.
Answer
Yep! You can find the background settings where you set image on the right hand side inside the desktop publisher. You can also set "Background Alpha" to 0 on the right hand side in the "Styling" section in the desktop publisher if you want the publication to float on top of a background.
Is it possible to have a button showing the pdf's TOC and how do I activate it in the viewer?
Answer
You can enable the TOC button by enabling it in the "UI Components" section on the right hand side in the desktop publisher. You can also fill in or edit existing items in the table of contents by expanding the TOC tree editor on the left hand side in the desktop publisher.
How do I disable scroll wheel zoom in the desktop publisher?
Answer
You can't disable only mouse wheel zooming but you can disable all zooming in the left hand panel under "Behaviour". Scroll down to the bottom of this settings panel and you'll find "Disable All Zooming”.
When rendered PDF on web version, is it possible to disable page navigation which is done using keyboard arrow keys? PDF is distorted when navigated like this. We are on Zine.
Answer
Yes! there's a setting for this in the settings section on the left (click on the cog).
1. When adding in the links to the pages, is it possible to change the blue at all.... apart from changing it to none?
2. Is it possible to turn off the blue fade on links when a page first opens?
Answer
Scroll down in the right hand side ("style" tab) inside the desktop publisher and you'll see "Link Color”.
You can set the "Link Alpha" value to 0 in the right hand side of the desktop publisher (in the "Styling" tab)
How can I get the controls to show at the bottom of the viewer instead of the top?
Answer
There is a template inside the desktop publisher that allows you to do this. Select the "Rainforest" theme on the right hand side of the publisher to access this template.
You also have the option to customise which buttons are visible on the toolbar.
It can be done in 2 ways. You either animate all headlines of the same size by editing the "Styling" section on the right hand side of the publisher and choosing an animation for the header size. The other way is to go into edit mode for a specific page and select the heading you want to animate. The animations you can choose from will appear in the left hand side of the edit window. The animation we have used for the business presentation link you referenced is the "3D rotate”
Is it possible to add tabs which would appear on the e.g right-hand side of the publication for easier navigation?
Answer
You could add tabs on the right hand side if you use the Elements viewer. All the containing elements are fully exposed when you use the elements viewer so it would be easy to modify them to include your tabs.
Can I produce single pages that won’t default to showing as a spread when views on an iPad?
Answer
Yes you can force the viewer to only show 1 page at the time.
If you're using one of the 'Elements' templates: Go into the settings section on the left (click on the cog). Set "Max Visible Pages" to 1.
If you're using one of the 'Zine' templates. Go into the settings section on the left (click on the cog). Select 'Flip Single' in the starting mode drop down menu
Is there a way to create a template or set default controls?
Answer
You can save your current settings into a template by using the template settings on the right hand side, under the template thumbnail in the style section). Use the "save as template" button to create a new template with your current settings. Alternatively, you can watch our tutorial here: https://flowpaper.com/How-to-create-and-save-a-style-template-for-PDF-documents/
The easiest way to do this is to use the desktop publisher and use the style section on the right hand side to disable the shadows. Then publish your document which will give you a UI_Zine.xml style file that you can use in other publications or in other places.
Is it possible to remove all navigation on the bottom, the arrows, full page icons, etc...except for the side arrows in the zone format?
Answer
Yep you can disable the toolbar completely if you don't want it. If you're using the Elements viewer then simply edit out the toolbar from the index.html file once published.