From the beginning, Shorthand has been about creating stories and experiences that engage and enthrall from the desktop to mobile screen.
We devoted ourselves to creating tools that would allow storytellers to focus on their content and narrative, while our technology would ensure their media-rich work would captivate readers across devices. With mobile readership climbing, the smallest-screen experience was vitally important – an importance which only continues, if anything increasingly so.
When combined with tablet, mobile now largely makes up more than 50% of traffic to Shorthand stories.
In fact, when looking at average engagement with Shorthand Pro stories per device, mobile phone engagement is an average 10% higher year-on-year (based on a comparison of May-Oct). And when combined with tablet, mobile now largely makes up more than 50% of traffic to Shorthand stories.
So it is important for us to continue to iterate in terms of the mobile experience, and where possible, give you the ability to tailor the mobile experience, to ensure the content feels native to the environment in which it is found.
So we're excited to announce our latest features to come out of our recent mobile developments, our mobile placement selectors for scrollmation in Shorthand Pro.
1. TAILORING THE MOBILE EXPERIENCE
In Shorthand Pro, it is easy to create media-rich stories, and as part of that, there is also opportunity to create animation that the reader can interact with as they scroll using our Scrollmation features.
That might be to deliver a breakdown of statistical information that the reader can digest at their own pace, or perhaps to bring movement to the page for added atmosphere, emotion or meaning:
(See the full MSF story here).
But it also means that when you come to smaller screens, there's a need to consider the best experience in an environment where space is a precious commodity. And we wanted to make it easier for content creators to tailor that experience in the same way they can build the rest of their Shorthand story i.e. easily, intuitively and without any coding.
Background Scrollmation
On a mobile, background scrollmation sections are delivered with one image at the top – by default the first – and the text column underneath. So the mobile reader only ever sees one of the images added full-screen into that section.
However, the new mobile selector lets the storyteller choose which of the images added to the background of that section will show on mobile.
Two Column Scrollmation
On a mobile, all images added to a two column scrollmation sections are shown on a mobile phone screen, automatically distributed evenly through the text.
But with the new mobile selector feature, the content creator can choose exactly where those images fall inline, and whether they show at all, by clicking 'Place Scrollmation Image', at the right points in the text, and choosing the image from a selection of those they have already added.
For more on this, take a look at our detailed guide to the new features.
2. IMMERSE ON MOBILE...
...WITH THE REVEAL EFFECT
Another part of our recent release of new mobile-focused features, is the arrival of the reveal effect on mobile devices.
Until recently, the reveal effect was only available on desktop, and has been used powerfully to add depth, meaning, emotion and context through successive images.
And the exciting news is this immersive treatment can now be enjoyed across all devices. That's true for Shorthand Social stories too, so check this story on a mobile to see how that looks.
3. SIMPLER SOCIAL SHARING
Finally, we've also not only updated our social sharing icons, but also introduced the ability to choose whether or not they show when on mobile phone screens, in the header of the story, like below:
(See the full Elle story here).
We will also be tweaking the icons in response to Twitter's recent announcement that it will be withdrawing the Twitter count.
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
If you're interested in finding out more about Shorthand Pro:
• See example stories on our Pinterest board
• Get in contact via the website
• Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, follow us on Google+ and follow us on LinkedIn
