How does it work?

1) Send us your content.
2) We do some clever code to make your story sing.
3) Choose whether you will post it on your site or on a custom domain.

How do I write a visual story?

We find it’s best to write specifically for the visual story format, rather than to adapt an existing piece. That way you can plan your images and text together. Try to show as much as you can in pictures or video, with paragraphs of text to explain or elaborate. Keep video short, so that it enhances the story rather than distracting the reader. The best videos are ambient ‘moving pictures’.

How should I submit my copy?

When you get in touch about creating a story, we’ll send you a template so that you can structure your copy correctly. We’ll need to know which images go where, and how they should be captioned. 

How do I provide the images and videos?

You can send us your images and videos using a service like Dropbox, or email them to us in a zip file. 

How can I put Story Glass on my site?

If you choose to show your story on a new domain or subdomain, then we'll sort out everything - you just need to point people to your story (e.g. with a link).

If you want your story to be integrated with your existing site, we'll provide the code for your web designers to add. If you need help with the integration, we can provide that too through our Integration service.

​What is the hosting cost?

If we host your story on a custom domain or subdomain, we'll include a year of hosting in the initial fee. After the first year, it will cost £25 per year (paid in advance). Our hosting includes 5TB per year of bandwidth, if you approach this we'll get in touch to arrange additional hosting.

Does Story Glass work on all browsers?

We designed Story Glass to work in all up-to-date versions of the major browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari.

Does Story Glass work on tablets & mobiles?

Story Glass will adapt to whatever device it is shown on. It is best viewed on a desktop or laptop to enjoy its full magic.

For mobiles and tablets, your pictures appear one after the other, rather than overlaid with text. Users can choose to play a video that is embedded in the text, but generally a still image will show in place of a video. For more about this see the next question.

Take a look at our examples on your mobile or tablet device to see how they compare to the desktop version.

In short, we try to make your story look as good as possible on every device, big or small, but you'll want to show your story on a larger monitor to get the full experience.

What kind of video works best?

There's an important difference between what we call 'ambient' video, which are simple looping scenes that sit well behind text, and full-on video with dialogue. For an example of ambient video see the Story Glass home page.

The kind of video that plays automatically on Story Glass is ambient video on a dekstop or laptop. On mobiles and tablets users will see still images in place of an ambient video. 

A way to integrate full-on video into Story Glass is to embed it in the text and give the user the choice whether to play it or not. They will be able to play it on a desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile. Giving users a choice about whether or not to play a long video can help those with poor internet connections, and to maintain the continuity of the main story.