A great feature of creating and developing digital magazines for tablets is the ability to hide and reveal content. The method for putting this into practice can be simple, or complex, depending on the budget. Advertisers are using some inventive ways to let users explore their products including, magnification on finger press, gyroscoping of angles or tablet tilt and page scroll to reveal more. Methods are not restricted to advertising as each provides an immersive and interactive method to discovering pertinent content. Digital publications such as Wired and Project utilise this method in many of their articles to great effect.

Page content top

Page content bottom

The simplest of the three examples is to page scroll. Functionality is automatically embedded in any exported .folio article with more than one page. Within my own R&D project I chose the page scroll as an ideal way to display an opening statement on my first screen with the closing statement revealed on the second.

But how does the user know they must scroll to reveal more?
Each publication uses graphical devices to indicate the interaction a user must take to reveal more. These vary from publication to publication with the main usability requirement being that it must clearly represent the users next action. Some creatives accompany the device with text to describe the action. I'm of the opinion that if you are designing a graphical device the text should be irrelevant as the graphic should clearly indicate the desired interaction. If it doesn't then it fails to present a transparent UX.

Scroll indicators used in digital publications

Consistency for me is another key to achieving a desirable UX. If the user becomes familiar with the styling they know exactly what to look out for. It sounds simple but a downwards arrow, for me, is the clearest way to indicate that more information resides on a screen up gesture.

There is an added advantage to this style of content presentation, which is type can be presented at a legible size without detriment to the users experience. It also gives the creatives more freedom in how they address a page layout, with the page length limitless the conceptual aspect becomes much more exciting, challenging and compelling.