Once Flow has finished processing your publication, you’ll have a fully responsive version of your content ready to review. While Flow does an excellent job of automatically restructuring PDF content for smaller screens, spending a few minutes refining the output can significantly improve the reading experience.
This article highlights five simple improvements that can make your Flow publication easier to read, navigate, and engage with on mobile devices.
Break Up Long Paragraphs
Large blocks of text can feel overwhelming on smaller screens, even when they are perfectly readable.
When reviewing your Flow pages, look for lengthy paragraphs that can be split into smaller sections. Aim to have concise paragraphs that are comfortable to read without requiring excessive scrolling.
Review Your Heading Structure
Headings play an important role in helping readers understand and navigate your content.
After processing, review each page to ensure headings accurately reflect the structure of the content. If a section contains multiple topics, consider introducing additional subheadings to break it into smaller, more digestible sections.
Remove Decorative Images
Images that work well in a print layout do not always add value in a responsive, scroll-based format.
Large decorative images or background images can increase the amount of scrolling required without contributing meaningful information. Try to prioritise images that help explain or reinforce the content.
Check Content Order and Flow
Flow automatically reconstructs content based on the structure of the PDF, but complex layouts may occasionally require manual adjustment.
Take a moment to scroll through each page as if you were a first-time reader and ensure content appears in a logical reading order.
Reduce Unnecessary Scrolling
Responsive publications naturally require more vertical scrolling than fixed-layout PDFs. However, excessive scrolling can negatively impact engagement.
Review pages for opportunities to make content more concise and efficient. Common changes that might benefit your Flow publication include removing or resizing oversized images or excessive whitespace. Try to ensure that every element on the page adds value to the reader’s experience.
Final Review
Before publishing, spend a few minutes reviewing your Flow publication on a mobile device or within a narrow browser window.
Ask yourself:
- Is the content easy to scan?
- Are key messages easy to find?
- Does the imagery support the content?
- Does the page feel comfortable to read from start to finish?
Small adjustments like those listed above can have a significant impact on the overall quality of the Flow experience.