WARNING: If you don’t think images add to the blog or website reader experience, skip this post.
I am not easily impressed. But I think Apture is a fantastic tool for blogs or websites. Use Apture to turn a flat page into a multi-dimensional experience. It provides a richer web experience and keeps readers on your site, instead of whisking them away on a link.
Simply put, Apture lets you add various media (video, audio, maps, photos, pdf docs, even PowerPoint presentations) and reference links (wikipedia) directly on your blog or website page— you don’t have to use your dashboard editor!
Here’s how it’s done: Just highlight a word or phrase, access the Apture editor, search for links and click a button to add them. Now, here’s the cool part— when a reader hovers over or clicks the link, it opens on the page to provide deeper levels of information. The reader can dive in as deep as they want and never leave the website or blog page. Amazing.
What I think is groundbreaking is the refocusing of the web link, making it serve as an enhancement to a page without being an exit off it. Apture also makes it easy for the technically unsavvy to embed multimedia into their blogs. Believe it or not, many folks don’t know about embed codes and how to add them to their website or blog. All they need do is search and click “add link”.
I used Apture on this post. Just roll over Eddie Adams to see the wikipedia entry, as well as video and Amazon book I embedded. All links within the new screens will also open on the page (screenshot below). All I had to do was highlight Eddie Adams, right-click to access the Aperture Editor, do a search and add the links I thought would add to the story. Easy.
Another neat thing about Apture is the ability to embed media between paragraphs. Roll over until a gray line appears. Click it and see the “Embed Media” button (below). Click to add other media.
On some YouTube videos, you can choose the time start, skipping any unrelated intro material.
Sign up and set up an Apture account for one or more of your blogs or websites. Access the Apture Editor by typing the letter e or using the Apture bookmarklet. The Apture Editor will appear like this on your computer screen (notice the Video tutorial):
Apture works with most popular publishing platforms, such as Worpress, Blogger and Typepad. You can add as many blogs or websites as you like to your Apture account.
Now, here’s a little test– which works better to get you excited about Apture– my wordy blog post or this video?
Try it.
Technorati Tags: apture, blogging, tech, tools, tech tips, wordpress
