Online "flipping page" catalog viewer software recommendation
April 11, 2011 4:16 PM Subscribe
I'm looking for a "flipping page" online catalog viewer for print catalogs. Hoping to find something that will work for iPad, iPhone and Android. Ideally I'd like something self-hosted, but that is not a deal breaker. The ability to add image map-like links to URLs is needed. The source file is a PDF built in InDesign.
Why can't you leave it as PDF and use iBooks to view? Android also has PDF viewers.
posted by wongcorgi at 4:49 PM on April 11, 2011
posted by wongcorgi at 4:49 PM on April 11, 2011
Response by poster: lekvar, I was not aware of that. What is the feature called?
wongcorgi, it has to go on a website. It will have an option to download a PDF, exactly for those people that would just prefer to take a look in iBooks or something similar.
For what it's worth, here's what I've found that fits most of my needs: http://www.zmags.com/showcase/audi/. I'd prefer something that can be self-hosted, is sold as software rather than a service, and has prices listed on the site.
posted by letitrain at 4:58 PM on April 11, 2011
wongcorgi, it has to go on a website. It will have an option to download a PDF, exactly for those people that would just prefer to take a look in iBooks or something similar.
For what it's worth, here's what I've found that fits most of my needs: http://www.zmags.com/showcase/audi/. I'd prefer something that can be self-hosted, is sold as software rather than a service, and has prices listed on the site.
posted by letitrain at 4:58 PM on April 11, 2011
File -> Export will bring up the Export window. Select Flash Player (SWF) from the drop-down menu at the bottom. Then you'll get a window full of options. I can't recommend any specific settings, as they'll vary depending on your needs, but the two main things you'll want to fiddle with is Page Transitions drop-down and the Include Interactive Page Curl radio button.
Now, this is all based on CS5. I don't know which version you're using or whether older versions include this, but it should give you a start.
posted by lekvar at 5:06 PM on April 11, 2011
Now, this is all based on CS5. I don't know which version you're using or whether older versions include this, but it should give you a start.
posted by lekvar at 5:06 PM on April 11, 2011
Oh, and when I was checking out 3rd-party applications, I decided against zmag in favor of axmag. If I remember correctly*, zmag doesn't allow any user control. You upload your PDF, they convert it to SWF and host it on their servers and that's it. Axmag is a downloadable conversion utility. You convert your file and host it wherever you'd like.
*I may not actually remember this correctly.
posted by lekvar at 5:11 PM on April 11, 2011
*I may not actually remember this correctly.
posted by lekvar at 5:11 PM on April 11, 2011
Response by poster: lekvar, thank you for the info. I would like to find something that is compatible with iOS and Android, so the flash-only tools are pretty much out.
Are there any software tools that can convert to flash and HTML5?
posted by letitrain at 5:56 PM on April 11, 2011
Are there any software tools that can convert to flash and HTML5?
posted by letitrain at 5:56 PM on April 11, 2011
Not the full feature set you want but Issuu has Android compatibility with iPhone coming soon.
I've used it for uploading course handbooks which can be embedded and read via my college's website.
posted by i_cola at 1:05 AM on April 12, 2011
I've used it for uploading course handbooks which can be embedded and read via my college's website.
posted by i_cola at 1:05 AM on April 12, 2011
Best answer: I'm not sure what your web development level is. It's definitely possible, but it'll be a bit of work.
Firstly, you'll still need to make a Flash version to serve up to all Internet Explorers and older versions of browsers. For newer browsers and capable mobile devices, you can essentially emulate Google's http://www.20thingsilearned.com/, which is much (much) easier said than done. There's a basic tutorial here, but it'll take quite a bit of work to bring it up to scratch.
Another potential resource I found is http://jpageflipper.codeplex.com/
Alternatively, if you don't mind losing the page-flip effect, there are tons of nice gallery tools around that would be a lot easier to implement.
posted by Magnakai at 4:31 AM on April 12, 2011
Firstly, you'll still need to make a Flash version to serve up to all Internet Explorers and older versions of browsers. For newer browsers and capable mobile devices, you can essentially emulate Google's http://www.20thingsilearned.com/, which is much (much) easier said than done. There's a basic tutorial here, but it'll take quite a bit of work to bring it up to scratch.
Another potential resource I found is http://jpageflipper.codeplex.com/
Alternatively, if you don't mind losing the page-flip effect, there are tons of nice gallery tools around that would be a lot easier to implement.
posted by Magnakai at 4:31 AM on April 12, 2011
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I may be misunderstanding what you're looking for, but InDesign will export flippy-page flash/html natively, and the results are pretty good.
posted by lekvar at 4:37 PM on April 11, 2011