Comparing the different templates

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.