Online Alumni Magazines

[Michelle Mierzwa]

What solution are you using to publish your online alumni magazines? Examples would be appreciated.

[Zac Vineyard]

Just to spread some inspiration: http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/bringing-the-magazine...

[Deborah]

I asked earlier this year, but didn't see any response. Has anyone reviewed the accessibility of the various options you're using? Seems to me a straight HTML site, whether implemented in WordPress or something else, is the most accessible for those people with visual, cognitive or other impairments.

Unless the third-party vendors have specifically developed their site with accessibility in mind, trying to fix it after the fact is challenging.

[Lee Ann Sutton]

We use Issuu Pro - it's $19 per month and you upload a pdf and it gives you code to put into a page. Here is ours: MSOE Dimensions Magazine

[Bill Sutley]

Since this thread was last active, we've seen a tremendous surge in the use of tablet devices, with the iPad getting increasing attention. Since that's the case, I wondered what people think about the inability of some devices, such as the iPad, to be unable to handle Flash -- without special software that I think most users don't know about?

 

Of all the different options and vendors, is someone addressing this issue? Is one of the major vendors (like ISSU) developing an HTML 5 solution?

[Erik Hagen]

Good point. I haven't seen anything yet in the HTML5 realm. I've tried ISSUU in the past, and while a lot of people like it because it looks like a shiny new toy, the use of Flash is only one thing going against it. Although its easy to add a publication, the readability isn't that great, even if you're viewing full screen. The tiny text in magazines doesn't translate well to the web. You have to zoom in to the page and drag it around to read, then zoom out and flip pages. Not the best experience.

The old cliche that the web is not print comes to the surface here. While a native app for a tablet would be great, building a website that can respond well to computers, tablets and phones would work just as well. We switched to Wordpress last year, and while it needs some more work, I think it will be a great platform to do all of that. Granted, there's a lot more involved than simply uploading a file, but with all the talk about the future of alumni magazines in question, it will take a lot more than that anyway.