There are things you give a lot of attention and make a real fuss about and then there are things that are silently implemented without any notice. But does that make the one more important than the other? Not at all. Our new 'Fallback'-solution falls under the latter, and it's an upgrade that will definitely benefit your readers.
It’s no secret that we would prefer that everyone read their ePapers in a native app – or the Desktop Web App for non-handheld devices. But the fact is that there are still a significant amount of users who aren’t using native apps. This is where our 'Fallback'-solution comes into play.
Basically, it's what the readers see when they access your ePaper through a browser on their smartphone or tablet. Our previous 'Fallback'-solution was developed externally and is based on older technology, so we have had a strong desire to develop a new solution ourselves in order for it to live up to the high Visiolink standards.
The new 'Fallback'-solution is developed in Google’s JavaScript library, Polymer, like the Visiolink Publishing Hub. This means that the solution works in most current browsers. Unfortunately, there are still some very old devices that won’t work with the new solution. But that’s not a problem since we also have a fallback to the fallback for this scenario. Yes, you heard it correctly.
But what else is new?
Well, the new 'Fallback'-solution has some major upsides compared to the previous one. First of all, it uses a design pattern called ‘lazy loading’ which means that the user can start reading the publication before it’s fully downloaded. The pages will load as the reader is progressing in the publication, and this drastically reduces the loading time.
As something new, it’s also possible now to read in Article View. This means the readers have two options of reading modes. Either they can swipe through the digital replica like they would as if it was a print paper, or they can go into Article View which many prefer as it's a bit more focussed and user-friendly.
In general, the new 'Fallback'-solution is very similar to our highly praised Desktop Web App – both in terms of features and user interface. And it's already implemented for everyone using a Visiolink solution without any additional costs.
If you have any questions regarding the 'Fallback'-solution - or any other of Visiolink's products and features - then feel free to contact one of our Key Account Managers. They'll be more than happy to help.
