Flipbook Support for Windows 8 Touch Screen Devices & Internet Explorer

Microsoft decided against supporting a universal standard for web browsers in their new Operating System and Internet Explorer, called “webkit”.  Our current Mobile platform is built upon that standard and as such, these device/browser combinations are unable to support the full functionality of our Flipbook 3.   Note that users who are on Windows 8 touch enabled machines should be able to use another browser like Google Chrome to experience the fully featured Flipbook

Some users may not want to or may not be able to use a browser other than Internet Explorer, so we found a way to serve up a simplified version of our Mobile platform to those situations where folks are using Internet Explorer,  so users can at minimum have a basic reading experience.   When someone tries to access content from their touch enabled Windows device (this includes Combo, All-in-One Desktop/Touch Systems), we’ll deliver a message indicating the lack of full support and that we’ll serve up a simplified experience instead.

Once the user clicks OK out of that message, they’ll be able to flip pages via buttons on the sides of the page, and access most of the Toolbar functions normally displayed to Mobile users, albeit through a bottom toolbar instead of the usual top placement.  Functionality for page widgets, videos and other enhancements will unfortunately not be delivered through the simplified interface.

UPDATE:   May 28, 2013

We're now offering an option to download the PDF to Windows touch screen devices, in addition to accessing the simplified experience.  If the "Allow downloading original PDF" option is set for the Parent Folder or the particular Flipbook in the Overrides, the user will be presented the option to click OK and download the original PDF for viewing on their Windows Touch devices

We know it’s not the optimal experience for those Windows 8 touch screen users, but we’re forced to work within Microsoft's restricted webkit support.

On an exciting note, our future development will be focused on removing dependencies on webkit, and even Flash.  The goal of our new Flipbook, which we’ll begin developing later this year, is to deliver a consistent experience across any device (Desktop and Mobile), as long as it supports the even more universal standards: Javascript and CSS.  Stay tuned to our Application Version Update Forum where we will be sure to announce the arrival of the new Flipbook!

UPDATE:  May 16, 2014

We're now serving up an improved version of Flipbook for Windows Touch screen devices (phones, tablets, hybrid desktop computers).  Although more improvements to come down the road, here are the details of the updated experience:

• finger swiping to flip pages now supported
• pinch zoom now supported
• fully zoom out to access a 'page thumbnail scrubber' for quick navigation to other pages
  
  

Current Feature Limitations  (NOTE:  These features will be available in the future as part of the subsequent phases of Flipbook development)

• no toolbar available
• enhancements like hyperlinks and Page Widgets not yet supported

UPDATE: Effective June 27, 2014

New Windows Touch Screens Features added!

Windows touch devices now support a functional Flipbook menu,  appearing on the left side, and they support enhancements like Hyperlinks on Flipbook pages!

Current Limitations (Will be available in the future as part of the subsequent phases of Flipbook development)

• No support for Page Widgets
• No Print functionality