Flip Books What are they?
Flip Books are a way of displaying your documents on your website in an easy- to-read format. Normally used to display fully hyper-linked pdfs in a more accessible way, they can also be used for documents created in other formats such as Word or PowerPoint.
Why should I display my website documents as flip books?
- Flash or HTML based flip books give more enjoyable reading experience. You can turn the page of the flipbook like turning a real book. You also can zoom in/out of the book page and print/save if the option has been enabled at the creation stage.
- It normally takes less time to view contents in flip books. If the size of the original PDF is large, it will take a long time to open, however by using XML technology, the smaller Flash file size loads each page quicker. You can turn pages from the side or corners. Any hyper-links, bookmarks and cross reference links created in your original document will be active in your flip book.
- Documents embedded into a website can be viewed on most computer browsers without installing anything. (Flash Player may be required if the document is configured that way). Alternatively the option can be to have an executable file (.exe) for Windows or App for Apple that can be downloaded from your website or supplied on a disc for direct opening.
- The "reading" experience can be customised with background themes/logos etc., and page controls modified and enhanced. Security, can also be added. A “help” (?) button can be customised, normally displaying basic simple information to say how to navigate, print, download, etc., and usually including creator and contact details.
Can I download a Flip book?
We are often asked if the flip book can be downloaded in it’s original document form. The set up for this is as follows:
- A (normally high printing resolution) copy of the document (normally a pdf) is placed on your web server for download. The location for this is maintained as fixed and usually is common to all the documents you have available (i.e. all the files are in the same folder).
- You supply the folder URL (the download link) to us and when the flip book is created (usually at a lower resolution to make a smaller file), we add this URL to the book set up which introduces a download button.
- When a "reader" wishes to download he clicks the button which will start the download of the high res file from the server.
- Security levels can be introduced either in the flip book or in the document if required.
Another, more restrictive, option for download (which can be explained in the help file) is to use the "print" option and print to file rather than to a hard copy, although this option limits the resolution to the quality option of the flip book. If the computer has a pdf printer installed then a local pdf can be produced directly.
Please note: with the decline in use of Adobe Flash, coupled with Trevor’s retirement, we are unlikely to be able to provide a Flip Book service.