Hello Aesop Users,

Although this blog has not been updated too frequently, work has been continuing on Aesop Story Engine. The recent focus has been to address bugs and compatibility issues as the new versions of WordPress get released. I would like to talk about some recent changes that you may want to be aware.

Changes for Usability on the Mobile Devices

There has been some requests for the usability improvement for the video components for mobile devices. Traditionally Video embedded into WordPress pages did not work very well on the mobile devices. Unfortunately this is still true. So like similar WordPress plugins, ASE now offers ways to show alternate images on the mobile devices. Both the Video component and Video Chapter component now offer ways to provide alternate still images when viewed on the mobile devices.

The “poster frame” option added to the Video component also provide a way to display a still image for “Self” videos before it gets played on a desktop browser. It will also double as the alternate image when viewed on a mobile device.

Chapter Component Changes

Also, the Chapter component now has the option to use a solid color background instead of an image or a video.

Also there has been several requests to change the behavior of the Chapter components. Using the up and down arrow keys to navigate the chapters caused issues for some users, especially on the mobile devices. So the component has been changed to use Page Up/Down keys instead.

We will continue to make improvements to ASE. Stay tuned!