Igloo is adding HTML file conversion to improve how we display documents and video. And it's coming in Scone, our latest product release, on August 30.
The new conversion engine and document viewer removes Igloo's dependency on Flash allowing you to view a diverse array of file, image and audio formats inside your browser, on any device, without having to download the file or open an external application.
Igloo has integrated with an open source web-based document viewer to quickly display files as HTML or Adobe Flash depending on your browser. There are a couple of things to note.
First, the interface is slightly different. You'll have all the same controls you've grown accustomed to (e.g. print, search, zoom), plus we've added support for touch gestures (i.e. pinch and zoom) for mobile visitors and a few additional viewing options. You can select the traditional view (single page), storybook (two pages) or thumbnail views. You even have the ability to rotate a file, so it's no longer necessary to be a contortionist to read a document that's uploaded in landscape mode (and displayed sideways).
Second, we support a wide range of file types, including Microsoft Office (doc(x), xls(x), csv, ppt(x)), pdf, txt, rtf, msg and vsd. We also take advantage of progressive loading, reducing bandwidth usage by downloading just the pages requested by the user. It's a richer experience and we think you'll like it.
The screenshot below captures the new document previewer in action.
We'd be remiss if we didn't talk about video as well. Igloo has integrated with an open source HTML5 video and audio player to enable you to upload and embed videos with HTML5 playback on virtually any device.
All videos are converted to two formats: Standard Definition (SD) or 360p and High Definition (HD) or 720p. With intelligent device detection, SD is served up for mobile browsers, while HD is used for the desktop experience. A wide selection of video formats are also supported, including asf, avi, flv, m4v, mkv, mov, movie, mp4, mpe, mpeg, mpg, ogv, viv, and wmv.
The screenshot below captures the new video preview (while we wait for the cool embed code).
Browser and Device Support Matrix
Files will now display on any device from PCs to smartphones by combining support for HTML5, HTML4 and Flash. The chart below outlines how the technologies are prioritized across different file types and browsers.
IE9+ | IE7&8 | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | iOS | Android | |
Documents | Flash | Flash | Flash | Flash | HTML4 | HTML4 | HTML4 |
AVI | Flash | Flash | Flash | Flash | HTML5 | HTML5 | HTML5 |
MKV | Flash | Flash | Flash | Flash | HTML5 | HTML5 | HTML5 |
MOV | Flash | Flash | Flash | Flash | HTML5 | HTML5 | HTML5 |
MP4 | Flash | Flash | Flash | Flash | HTML5 | HTML5 | HTML5 |
WMV | Flash | Flash | Flash | Flash | HTML5 | HTML5 | HTML5 |
Page Options
16 Comments
Bryan, this is great news!
Question about the technology matrix for documents. It still lists Flash as number 1 priority for documents?! In order to stop contortions, it would make sense to have HTML technology being the default. Otherwise nothing changes for the default desktop user, correct?
Contortions? Can you explain that a bit more?
There is still a flash technology used in the new viewer but it is not the old flash paper software, that is gone completely. It works much better and switches to html when flash isn't present.
We wanted to ditch flash completly and go to HTML5 but we still have a bunch of users on IE 8 unfortunatly(even some users on IE7). Since IE 8 can't do HTML 5 and we still have a large number of users locked into IE 8 by their organization we had to make sure our focus was compatibility with everyone.
You mentioned contortions, unless you didn't write the article :)
Do I then understand correctly that landscape PDFs are still displayed vertically, but you have the option of horizontal rotation now?
t's no longer necessary to be a contortionist to read a document that's uploaded in landscape mode (and displayed sideways).
Yeah, It won't be sideways anymore and If for some reason it is, there is a rotate button now.
Damn....just when I finally finished my contortionist certification program... Oh well, maybe I'll get a gig at Cirque du Soleil...
In the meantime, glad to hear these documents won't be on their side any more. Is there more information about the Scone release?
Catherine Racette - you can check out a high-level overview at igloosoftware.com/scone. Full product release notes coming soon!
Thanks, Stephen!
I LOVE the new slideshow feature. That's fantastic.
Catherine - there's also a quick walk-through of that widget now in the documentation area: https://support.igloosoftware.com/wiki/widgetslideshow.
Thanks. Just bookmarked it. :-)
Stephen,
Will the slideshow support videos as well?
Michael - just images initially, but video is a natural addition.
My documents still are in the old viewer and I don't see a rotate button - Am I missing something? Do I have to do something to get the new viewer on existing documents?
The new viewer is great! However, its container seems to be inappropriately sized. It shows both horizontal and vertical scrollbars while the document has a scrollbar on its own. Please resize it, so the user can access all controls without scrolling.
@Catherine Racette We have to re-queue your files for you. Send in a request to support. See this comment for more information https://support.igloosoftware.com/blogs/productnew/releasenotesforscone#anchor_beabf230-3e14-e311-8bba-d4ae529b76b6
@Michael Dieterle
Yeah it looks like I am able to replicate that when I change the magnification. I have submitted a bug for this.
Thanks Bryan. By the way, we tested in a variety of browsers and the issue occurs only in Firefox consistently.