Adobe just launched a new iPad app that aims to make anyone sense like a magazine editor in chief .
It ’s called Adobe Slate , and it offer a way to mash up words and pictures into guileful - looking stories for the WWW . Slate automatise things like animations and transitions , and purposely limits control over fonts and formatting , so that anyone can make a good - looking chronicle with no design know - how .
The end - result is a web page , hosted by Adobe , that mechanically formats itself to fit any screen size . ( Here ’s an example . ) Slate is uncommitted now asa free app for the iPad .
Why this matters : Adobe is following in the stride of other new - age presentation and storytelling apps such asMicrosoft Sway , FlowVella , andHaiku Deck , all of which examine to automatize the sort of flourishes that once ask serious PowerPoint or web programming chop . You give up control condition in the cognitive process , but the barriers to designing a polished web story are much downcast .
So easy, you might wish it was harder
To get get with Slate , you ’ll either call for to create an Adobe account statement or sign in with Facebook . you could then look at some sample stories for inspiration , or plunk into making your own .
You start by creating a title , which you may then fling around to one of nine positions on the screen door — it look as if you are dredge it wherever you want , but Slate actually conduct it into pre - fit slots based on where you aim it . You ’ll also pick a top photo . Because Slate stories adopt reactive design , you’re able to adjust a focal point on your cover image to make certain that it crops in good order on all equipment .
Slide the claim posting upwards , and a prompting appears underneath , telling you to add an image , some text , a link , or a gridiron of photos . slip up on this , and you could tot up another story element below your first one , and another , and another , and so on . The estimate is to make a vertical chain of mountains of picture or text block , and Slate will automatically make it pretty .
Images can be added from your Camera Roll , or imported from Creative Cloud , Lightroom , or Dropbox . to boot , you could take a novel photo from within the app , or look through Adobe ’s database of Creative Commons range
It ’s dead - simple , but also quite limited . you may select from a fistful of themes to exchange the whole look of the storey , but ca n’t adjust item-by-item fonts or formats , or even sum up a connection within a larger blocking of schoolbook . ( you may , however , station links as standalone button . ) you could commute persona formats so they come along full screen , inline , or as a scrolling “ windowpane , ” but you ca n’t tot up borders or freely move images around . Video is n’t endorse at all .
Even the publishing element is confining . story show up at slate.adobe.com , and you ’re turn over a direct inter-group communication to your story to portion out with others . When exporting , you could tap button to share your story via Facebook , Twitter , electronic mail , or substance — but you could only select one option at a time . you may , however , go back and republish your Slate story in as many different formats as you ’d like . You ’re grant an embed computer code , too , but only for your story ’s statute title and embrace image — which channelize viewers back to the story hosted on Adobe ’s website . You ca n’t host your entire story on your on website or blog , or engraft them within other webpage .
slating has some potential as a publishing tool , especially considering how well-off it is to get started . Its built - in themes and pre - primed animations make it well-fixed for drug user to create glib presentations and online flyers without any technical know - how . But without more control over how stories look and where they can be published , the appealingness is probably going to be limited .
Adobe Slate is an iPad - only app , available now in the App Storefor iPads running iOS 8 .
